


War's Favourite

by Sibuya



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gadget yolos, Infinite is an uno reverse card, M/M, Mildly Crackish, Two dogs hiss and spit at each other because they don’t know how to emotion, What does Knuckles even do, infidget, rookinite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 22:56:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21023597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sibuya/pseuds/Sibuya
Summary: Multiple unexpected run-ins between Infinite and Gadget spark electrifying chemistry, and neither know how to process it.





	1. Chapter 1

Gadget panicked as the building beneath his feet began to crumble. Midair, a few dozen feet away, Infinite cackled as the red wolf managed to grapple to another at the last second. This had been going on for too long, and he couldn’t even remember what his initial mission was - he hadn’t expected to run into the masked terror along the way. He growled in exasperation, and realized he’d have to pull out his wild card before Infinite got bored of toying with him. The jackal was giving him just enough time to make it to another piece of infrastructure before blasting it beneath his feet. 

The rookie didn’t like using the special abilities of his wispon, and he had been hoping to keep it that way for as long as possible - they would be harder to use successfully once his opponents had experience with them. He used the lightning wispon to propel himself towards the laughing jackal, before giving him a swift boot to the chest. He’d watched enough action movies to have hope that it would weaken him and end the battle. Gadget grappled from building to building until he reached the road, at the same time Infinite had hovered down to kneel in pain. 

Just as Gadget had been about to flee the scene, the masked villain began to speak in a strained voice.

“You sneaky little pup.”

Gadget’s parents had told him he sometimes used his mouth more than his brain. This was one of those instances.

“It wasn’t even sneaky, you were just too busy cackling like a hyena. I think you’re confused on what species you are.”

His body froze and his blood went cold. Why was he like this?

_ Stupid mouth_!

Infinite snorted again, and it seemed like it wasn’t deliberate this time around. The laugh was missing dark undertones from the ones during battle. Remembering that there was absolutely no reason to stay there, he broke off into what he’d anticipated would be a hurried sprint. Having spent more time grappling through the air, he hadn’t realized that he’d sprained his ankle touching down onto one of the buildings at some point. He instead hobbled as quickly as he could to the nearest building that could provide him with cover. 

Flopping onto his arse inside a ruined warehouse, he patted his headset with dismay. He had planned to call for someone to retrieve him, but that was out of the question, as it had taken damage thanks to all the airborne rubble. He was at least grateful that he hadn’t taken any bonks to the noggin. Gadget settled on sulking for the moment as he realized he’d have to grapple his way back, and he wasn’t even sure how far he was from the base. From the corner of his eye, the room held a faint red glow, and his head whipped around to see that Infinite had followed him. 

_ I knew I shouldn’t have had faith in those movies. Now this guy is gonna barbeque me with lasers and eat me for dinner! _

“I taste like old shoes!”

_ Stupid mouth again! _

Infinite stopped in his tracks, and Gadget was sure he was staring quizzically through that mask of his. 

“Are you a licensed fool?”

Gadget blushed indignantly, but held his mouth shut… for about 5 seconds.

“This licensed fool got a pretty good boot to your chest!”

_ Might as well have fun in my last moments. He just laughs at me no matter what I do anyway! _

It was a case in point as the masked terror let out a garbled bark. Gadget was sure that it was another laugh he hadn’t meant to let out. Infinite coughed, and the rookie realized that the kick had been hard enough to knock the wind out of him.

“Indeed… you are a funny one. I suppose the entertainment came at a price this time around.” 

The jackal was clutching the ruby, but it didn’t seem to have taken any damage he could see. Granted, his glasses were also gone, so he couldn’t see much at all.

“Aren’t you supposed to be slaying things for Eggman or something? You wasted both of our time you know. I don’t even remember what I was supposed to be doing because of you.”

“Hmm… you’re cheeky too. Part of me prefers the cowardly silence you displayed in our first encounter. I only aid the Doctor in his endeavors because they happen to suit my interests.”

“Hah, you sound like you’re concerned with how I perceive you. This just in, the big bad jackal has insecurities like the rest of us!”

Infinite growled, and before the crimson wolf could even react, he was tackled onto his front. He grunted as an arm was pinned behind his back and pressed down on.

“Repeat these words: Infinite strikes fear into my heart!”

“I’m not scared though! You need a more intimidating getup!”

More pressure was applied to his bent arm, and he took this most inappropriate moment to analyze his situation. How did he end up in a wrestling match with the imperious jackal of all mobians? Would there be a swift death for him in the next few moments? He winced as it became more uncomfortable. It was astonishing that the villain wasn’t out to pop it out of its socket. He realized that Infinite was just too arrogant for his own good, and probably would have brushed off his insults had he not been kicked down so viciously. Regardless, he wasn’t loving the strain on his joints.

“Okay! You win!”

“Say it, impudent clown!”

“Infinite strikes fear into my heart!”

The pressure was immediately alleviated, and Gadget sat up in a huff. He turned around to see Infinite standing there curling his fingers into fists, and cracking the joints as he did so. The rookie puffed his cheeks out.

“Chaos. You have an ego problem.”

As if a switch was flipped, the normal chilly aura returned to the dark furred jackal. 

“I have squandered enough time. Look at you… incapacitated and without any method of communication. How piteous.”

Gadget squawked as he was hoisted over the jackal’s shoulder, and a moment later he was in front of the resistance headquarters. He squirmed out of Infinite’s arms and dropped gingerly onto the ground, mindful of his ankle. He turned around to ask the other canine if he was taking Eggman-approved crazy pills, but something more pressing came to mind.

“How did you know where the headquarters were?”

“Its location has never been unknown to me - I like to play with my food. Farewell, not-so-trembling child...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ever notice how surprised Gadget seemed every time he encountered Infinite in the game? Maybe I'm just imagining things


	2. Chapter 2

When Gadget entered the headquarters, nobody had even noticed him. It was then that he remembered his mission, which was to infiltrate any of Eggman’s bases and gather intel... while he didn’t accomplish the first half, he did technically have an update on Infinite - that had to count for something. Hopefully the commander wouldn’t chew his ear off for not fulfilling his mission.

He hobbled over to the commander’s quarters, and opened the door without knocking. Inside, the red echidna was balancing a pencil on his head. He flinched and dropped it on his lap, tip first.

“Rookie! Knock, will ya?”

Knuckles’ face burned in mortification, but he refused to acknowledge his lack of productivity. Gadget scowled for a moment before approaching the desk.

“Sorry, commander… anyway, I ran into Infinite.”

Knuckles blanched.

“What was he doing?! No wonder you look like you got hit by a bus!”

“Eh… thanks for the observation. I don’t even know what he was doing, and he was screwing around with me big time. I think he forgot what he was doing too, weirdly enough. He definitely wasn’t taking me seriously, because I managed to get a good hit on him. Knocked the wind out of his sails, and I uuhh. I got away. Yeah.” _ He doesn’t need the details, and I wouldn’t be able to explain them anyway. _

The commander gave him a momentary stink eye. 

“Where did this take place? The Mystic Jungle? Pretty far for someone as beat up as you are.”

_ Oh no! That was where I was supposed to be headed! _

“I never made it there… I’m sorry, commander! I completely forgot what I was supposed to be doing after I fought him.”

“Nothin’ to be sorry about; l’m proud of ya for holding your ground against Eggman’s little monster. Can you make it to the infirmary ok?”

“It’s just a sprained ankle, I’ll manage. I need to get a new headset though, so I might be out of commission for a bit…”

“Do what you need to do, Rookie! We’ll scrape by in the meantime.”

_____________

It took just over a week for his ankle to heal, but he kept it wrapped for a bit of extra support. He’d spent most of that time doing menial tasks and resting, much to his own chagrin - he needed to get shoes with better ankle support or something. He had new, slightly more durable gear to replace his broken stuff, thanks to Tails’ consideration. 

The red wolf returned to the commander’s office, this time knocking first. A thunk followed by a screech was heard, before he was answered with a gruff ‘come in’. Gadget hesitantly shuffled in and sat down. Figuring he was supposed to ignore the upturned desk, he’d sat in the only other chair that wasn’t jammed into a tiny trash can. He blinked owlishly as he finally glanced at the echidna, who had steam billowing out of his nostrils. 

“Uhm… I’m ready to do missions again. Is… there anything I can do?” 

He felt at risk of being used as a stress-relief punching bag, but the commander finally sat down and took a deep breath.

“We build really small, _ supposed to be _ clandestine bunkers in certain cities. This is so that resistance soldiers have safehouses when they’re too far from the headquarters, but they somehow keep being compromised! They’re either destroyed on the spot, or sabotaged. Tails is trying his best, but he’s got way too much on his shoulders to actively focus on outsmarting _ whatever it is _that keeps finding our outposts. This makes it REALLY hard for anyone to be sent further out when they have no guaranteed cover - no mission can be done in a day, including travel, and we just don’t have the means to transport them efficiently at this point. Basically, I need you to use that nerdy noggin of yours to solve this!”

“Solve, as in figure out what causes them to be found? Or-”

“Take down whatever is doing the compromising!”

“Okay, okay! Yes, sir! On it, sir!”

“I can’t tell if you’re mocking me or just eager to be back on the field… damn smarty pants soldiers.”

____

Once given the coordinates for all current locations of the bunkers, Gadget packed as much gear as he could without weighing himself down, and headed off for the closest one. On his journey, he thought about the last thing Infinite had said to him.

_ “Its location has never been unknown to me - I like to play with my food. Farewell, not-so-trembling child...” _

It made sense in the context of these safehouses being compromised… but why did they choose to leave their main headquarters untouched? Up until that impromptu fight they’d had, he’d assumed the jackal was just some animatronic husk or vessel for the phantom ruby. The weird after-battle banter suggested otherwise. Who was Infinite then? Did he have an agenda of his own?

Upon nearing his first destination, the dollar store version of a miles electric, granted to him by Tails, began picking up erratic energy signals. According to the commander, these safehouses had just been relocated, so it was bad news to see signals likely representative of the phantom ruby’s power so soon. Crackling static from his headset began assaulting his eardrums, and he ripped it off of his head in alarm. Paranoid and knowing he was about to walk into a trap or illusion, his head whipped around in all directions. 

He’d spent his whole journey either diving into piles of debris to avoid Empire troops, or overthinking events that had already occurred… especially recent ones in _ particular _ \- that was the life of Gadget the anxious wolf. Staring at the entrance, he realized that he should have spent it considering possible scenarios that he would run into. But the commander never specified that he had to enter these safehouses… 

Gadget deduced that he could afford the travel time to a second one, and gather more ideas on how to approach this. He left the site and kept to piles of debris, unaware that simply checking all directions once wasn’t enough to keep him from being followed.


	3. Chapter 3

It only took him a couple hours to reach the next safehouse, and he turned his headset down in preparation for static. There were no readings from his jury rigged miles electric, and he cautiously observed his surroundings. What were the odds that the second one he’d visited out of 6 hadn’t been sabotaged? Had whoever was up to this just not found it yet? It was hard to believe; the commander had informed him that their safehouses had been found 3 times already, all within a day of implementation. The resistance just didn’t have enough resources to get ahead of Eggman’s forces, so  _ if _ this one in particular was currently undiscovered, then it wouldn’t stay that way for long. 

He didn’t want to be stupid and enter the decrepit hideout - there was no way that this wasn’t a trap. A red ear tweaked back at the sound of shifting rubble, and he pivoted in tandem with a shot of his wispon. The figure responsible for the noise glitched in and out of existence, just as the burst of flames passed through its trajectory. Gadget scoffed as he figured out exactly who it was. 

“Are you here to screw around with this place too? How the hell are you finding them so quickly?”

“Camouflaging them under energy barriers effectively establishes them as beacons when I use my powers… stupid wolf.”

Gadget balked and waved his arms in offense.

“Psh, excuse me! I’m not in charge of these things. Don’t call me stupid, I’m just here to stop whatever’s been ruining them. If that’s you, then… stop. Please and thank you.” 

Infinite doubled over, choking on his own spit. He regained his composure in a few seconds to cross his arms and look down on the other canine.

“That’s it? Are you  _ mocking _ me? How irksome. I will teach you not to act so casual in my presence!”

Before Gadget had time to squeeze any words in, his feet were taking him away from a slew of red cubes. He twisted his torso to get a few shots in, but the masked jackal was too far for him to aim properly. Turning around proved to be a bad decision - he hadn’t even completely realigned his body before he ran straight into a wall of red cubes. Reeling back onto his ass, he scrambled onto his hands and knees just in time to roll away from a barrage of energy beams. The maniacal laughter above was incredibly grating on the wolf’s nerves. He stood up and continued his run again, this time being more mindful of his surroundings - or, potential surroundings. 

“Hahaha! You do not belong on the battlefield - I could squash you in but a moment!”

The rookie bit back a retort between huffs.

“Then - do it! Crappy dog - all bark and no bite!”

Infinite growled and shot a beam of energy right between his opponent’s boots. Gadget yelped and picked up his pace. To his horror, he looked back just to see the jackal disappear. He stopped dead in his tracks, and rapidly whipped his head in all directions. Seeing a faint red hue appearing to his left had him instinctively kicking right in the center of it - just as the masked menace appeared. Gadget gloated at the sheer luck of it.

“Pow! Right in the ruby. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!”

His opponent had one knee to the ground, hand splayed over the ruby.

“Urgh… shut your trap - you spend too much time around that blue rodent. I felt more pain from those awful quips than the kick you just delivered.”

“You’re right, that was horrid. But you know what’s even more horrid? How easy you’re going on me. Why?”

“Tch… obnoxious rookie. You stand here running your mouth instead of making a move. I’ve seen you up against the armies that the Doctor and I command - you show them no mercy. So why do you extend the same thing to me that I have done for you? We both have questions for ourselves it seems.”

The dark-furred villain grunted as he stood up, and Gadget eyed the ruby. It had a crack, maybe only a centimeter long, but it was noticeable due to distorted energy diffracting through the fissure. Had he really just done that? Infinite didn’t seem to notice, as he wouldn’t be able to see it unless he had a mirror.

“I only follow- _ engaged _ you in battle out of personal interest… but I didn’t intend on being so lenient that you would manage to hit me where it counts again. I will leave your pathetic little hideouts alone for now, just as I do your sorry excuse for a base.”

Infinite cracked his fingers as they curled into fists, and he shook a little. Before Gadget could even process the words, his opponent took to the sky and warped away. Gadget dropped to his knees and stared at the ground in confusion.

“I was trained to be efficient in my methods because war doesn’t play favourites... what was I just doing? Better yet, what’s up with him?”

_________________

Testing the validity of the masked jackal’s word, the rookie had entered the outpost to find it incorrupt. The sun was setting, and he didn’t think he’d be able to manage the 4 hour trek back to headquarters; he was way too fortunate that Infinite had been so uncharacteristically gratuitous.

A million scenarios ran through Gadget’s mind, prompting him to wonder why Infinite hadn’t just destroyed the safehouse and continued on his merry way. It was way too coincidental that they’d arrived at the same time, and he recalled his small slip up that had sounded suspiciously like ‘follow’. As creeped out as the crimson canine was, it made a lot more sense paired with their exchanged words. He was still reeling over the fact that their entire base of operations could be destroyed with the snap of those long-clawed fingers… he hoped that the other canine would keep that level of arrogance long enough for the resistance to make it his undoing, because they didn’t have enough fire power left to get a one-up on Eggman at this rate. Another moment of reflecting had him curious about something else.

“What did he mean by ‘personal interest’?”

______________

He woke up just before dawn, having only slept enough to consider it a good nap. By the time he made it back to base, he was grumpy and had dehydrated halfway through his travels. He beelined right for the commander’s office and kicked the door open. Inside, Knuckles flinched off of his desk and tilted backwards out of the chair. He clambered off the floor and glared irately at his fellow red mobian. The commander opened his mouth to berate the rookie, but Gadget beat him to it.

“Mission’s done, Infinite said he won’t touch the safehouses anymore, now I’m going to drink a liter of water and sleep for a day. Bye.”

Knuckles gaped as he turned on his heel and strode off.

“What a difference from the first day he showed up here… hey! I still need a debriefing, you brat!”


	4. Chapter 4

“My scouts have informed me that you have not been taking out the resistance’s little hideouts lately. They are good opportunities to whittle down their forces, are they not?”

Infinite knew that the Doctor would be on his case about that - he’d already prepared a lie to feed him.

“Indeed they are, but I am currently in the midst of increasing the size of our forces. This is a more _ permanent _ method of cutting them down, rather than having to repeatedly track these outposts just to take out a few puny squads. Besides, they are catching on, and will not continue to relocate them much longer if they have any brain cells to rub together.”

Eggman pinched a stray piece of facial hair between two fingers, and hummed.

“You have a point - good thinking, Infinite. Very well then, continue with your plans. If we could find their base of operations, the only speedbump we haven’t overcome, then we could move things along faster. Hmph.”

“Yes, how obnoxious. They have hidden it very well to escape even _ your _ detection, Doctor.”

Infinite smirked beneath his mask as the Doctor turned around and strode off, grumbling under his breath.

* * *

There were obviously no plans of ‘expanding their armies’. The truth was that he’d been struggling with self-control - nothing he’d done lately had been what he’d intended, and he felt a burning need to take it out on something. Or someone. Particularly that idiotic wolf that had been a hindrance to his productivity as of late…

The fear he’d held for the illusionist had dissipated since the day he’d let him run with his life, and Infinite’s analytical nature drove him to test the wolf when he’d spotted him grappling through the city a week ago. The spirit he’d witnessed in that rookie was refreshing, so when he’d caught wind of his scent near a resistance outpost yesterday, he felt compelled to follow him for another battle. 

What frustrated him most was that he couldn’t deduce why he kept making up excuses for his actions, even within the confines of his own psyche.

* * *

After having been dragged back to the meeting room by his ear, Gadget briefed the soldiers who were present on the tentative safety of the outposts. They were unconvinced, but he didn’t know how else to spin his story without admitting some of the weirder parts. They were sure that he decided to leave them alone, to catch them off guard with something even more sinister. The rookie was inclined to agree with them.

Every group intending to use an outpost was given an energy analyzer. With the safehouses undisturbed, the resistance was experiencing more progress in their missions. That enabled them to turn their focus on other matters, such as tracking Shadow down and finding out what caused him to turn sides this time around. As Omega was currently out of commission due to damage from a previous mission, Rouge was left without her team. In the commander’s quarters, the white bat and red echidna verbally brawled. 

“I know Shadow as well as I do every facet of a chaos emerald. I don’t need any ‘back-up’ for one grumpy hedgehog, Knuckie!”

“I don’t let anyone run a mission solo, no exceptions! This isn’t the same as every other time that Egghead has hatched some dirty scheme! We lost Sonic for 6 months because he had no reinforcement-”

“Tails was there!”

“You and I both know that he isn’t built to do much physical backing! None of that was expected. I don’t send him out on missions, he has his duties here. Even Sonic doesn’t go solo now, he’s got the rookie as his partner. Speaking of which, he was the one I was going to suggest before you went off on me!”

What they didn’t know was that Gadget had arrived midway through their argument, and was sitting in one of the chairs that had been flung into a corner. He meeped when Rouge’s head whirled to face his direction and scrutinized him.

“He’s a tiny little thing. Just sitting in that corner, he looks too scared to even hold a wispon.”

Before the hackled canine could even splutter in affront, Knuckles was on his defense.

“Urg… Rouge, that ‘tiny little thing’ is one of the guys we sent to the Death Egg when you found out that Sonic was alive. He may be a runty looking small fry, but he’s got guts and more ‘oomph’ to him than anyone would expect!” The commander punched air as he enunciated his point. 

Gadget scowled. He wasn’t sure how his ego hadn’t thrown itself off a cliff yet - some people were just ruthless. Rouge gave him a top down look and turned to the echidna again.

“Fine. I’ll take your word for it, then. Let’s go, pipsqueak.” She was obviously unimpressed, but as long as she didn’t cause any more trouble, it was enough for both red mobians.

* * *

The travel to Sunset Heights was quiet at first. The charismatic bat was miffed at Gadget’s inability to skate or hover like her teammates, but his awkward conversation starters were eventually enough to break her resolve. 

“Knuckie is usually the one badmouthing others for being incapable, so you must have really impressed him. I assumed someone a little more credible had been sent to get the blue blur, but I guess we are pretty spread thin. Where do you keep your beef? In hammerspace? Because it certainly isn’t visible - I thought you were a kid.”

He sometimes wished he wasn’t always trying to make friends with everyone, but at least it was a step up from her snooty huffs. 

“Hah hah. I don’t deserve this heat for being marginally smaller than you’re used to! Maybe take the heels off. Anyway, where are we looking?”

They had made it to the outskirts of Sunset Heights. 

“This was the last place anyone had seen Shadow before he was spotted on the Empire’s side. We have intel from the Chaotix that he’s been seen here recently too, granted we should take that with a bowl of salt… but where there’s Chaos, there’s Shadow.” Rouge continued into the city, cuing the rookie to match her pace. 

Gadget hated Sunset Heights, but he wasn’t about to tell his temporary partner and give her more reasons to make fun of him. It was one of the more destroyed cities, and they didn’t even bother having an outpost because it was so devastated. 

He pulled out his analyzer to use as a dowser for energy surges. The ivory bat glanced back at him, and caught on to the plan. Along with her sharp ears, they covertly made their way through the ruined city, towards a distinctly pristine looking area where Eggman had made himself comfy with a new base of operations. Rouge hissed.

“How many of these things does that bald bastard need?”

Gadget could only scoff in equal displeasure. Both mobians, who could have sworn they were hidden well enough, flinched in alarm when red cubes assembled throughout the vicinity. Multiple copies of Shadow appeared in their stead, along with the masked menace just above them all. Rouge growled. She felt like her and Shadow had done this song and dance one too many times already.

“Copies… where is my partner then?!”

Infinite crossed his arms and stared for a moment, just to push her buttons.

“Your partner, is that right? Shadow… _ spar _with your partner, would you? But do not touch the wolf.”

Faster than Gadget could compute, the gaggle of Shadow copies were skating after Rouge, who immediately took flight with a screech of contempt. Gadget made a move to follow, but found himself running into a wall of cubes that he berated himself for not watching out for once again. He fell on his arse and groaned, before scrambling up and glaring at the offender.

“Why do you always do that to me?!”

“Because you don’t learn from it, and it entertains me. I am particularly looking forward to crucifying you this time around!”

“There shouldn't be degrees for how much you're in the mood to kill!”

Instead of answering, Infinite formed a circle of cannons and fired them in the same moment. Instincts being the only thing on his side, he shot himself up and away from the blast radius with his burst wispon. He repeated it to reach the jackal’s level and took a quick shot. Not having expected his adversary to be so high in the air, he was caught off guard enough to take the shot in full. He dropped down to the ground along with the rookie and snarled, before rising upward again. 

Gadget didn’t even register the pain touching nerves in multiple parts of his body, until he looked down and saw that cubes shaped like spears had been run through him. He gaped when they disappeared a moment later, leaving no trace other than excruciating pain. He kneeled to the ground to gather his bearings for a moment, before using his wispon to propel himself upward again. This time, he grappled along the obscure structures of Eggman’s base to avoid the continuous onslaught of spears. Anxiety began to seep in, as he realized how serious the masked jackal really appeared to be this time around. He hoped Rouge would come and back him up, because he definitely wasn’t able to handle this much merciless jackal alone. 

Having lost speed from the exertion, he was suddenly hit with a few more spears midway through a grapple, and fell to the ground on his back. Time distorted, and the illusionist was in front of him along with the cannons he’d initially used. He raised his arms to initiate fire, and then languidly sagged them back at his sides. The cannons disappeared in an array of cubes. Gadget choked on his spit, and possibly some blood from the harsh fall. Infinite huffed.

“If I kill you now, I will not be able to find someone to entertain me as well as you do.”

The red wolf had a list of rude things he wanted to say in retaliation, but couldn’t due to the pain he was in, and wouldn’t because he didn’t want to risk any more injury.

“I feel like you’re not as heartless as you want yourself to be.”

The cannons reappeared again. Gadget lifted his head to finally look the maniac jackal in the eye, to see that the usual yellow iris was an off colour red, akin to the phantom ruby. Infinite was almost convulsing in his shoes. He had been breathing heavier than the crimson canine on the dusty ground, but eventually heaved a sigh and adjusted his air intake. The wolf didn’t even know what to make of it.

“Simply... toying with you. If you were anyone else, you would have indeed met your maker. Do not plant your mind with any other falsities.”

Gadget’s head flopped back onto the ground when the jackal returned to the interior fortress. Moments later, Rouge’s perplexed face was looming over his figure.

“I guess masked and fluffy got too distracted and couldn’t keep the Shadow copies at the same time. What’s up with you two? That was the lamest fight ever.”

“Rouge… help me up please. I don’t wanna talk about it right now.”


	5. Chapter 5

The Doctor, having seen the sad excuse for a scuffle from within the base, was becoming suspicious of Infinite’s loyalty. He had to acquiesce that it was fair, given that they barely got along as it stood.

“This is the second time you have faced off with this nameless wolf, that I know of… why not finish him? He holds no particular value in their ranks.”

_ I would love nothing more than to decapitate that rookie… however, if I clue him in on this host’s interference, he will want to find a new vessel for me. _

The illusionist thought it better that the mad scientist also be kept in the dark on the subject of his body having a crack.

“If you paid better attention, you would see that despite his sub-par strength, his rank equates to one of the blue rodent’s closest allies. I suspect that he would give us good leverage in custody.”

Eggman harrumphed.

“Even better than _ Sonic_?”

Infinite bobbed his head in affirmation.

“Him and his friends have bonded with the wolf to a degree. Additionally, he will be more manageable in captivity than that obnoxious sack of spines was.” 

“Very well then, I will leave that to your discretion. Use the base in the Mystic Ruins this time - I don’t want any ruckus on the Death Egg! What kind of bargaining are you aiming to achieve from those resistance pests anyway?”

“They hand their headquarters over and surrender to the Empire. Quite the rudimentary demand.”

As cliché as his proposition sounded, it was also just as false. He would show that weak puppy the error in his judgement - that he was absolutely as heartless as they come. Just the thought of his plans roused his host’s consciousness, and Infinite knew he’d have trouble keeping it repressed. He left for Mystic Ruins to prepare for his future hostage.

* * *

On the way back to HQ, to Rouge’s credit, she didn’t badger her rookie companion too much. He was sore and disgruntled; she figured her quips would be ill-received, and she had to admit that she was just as tired from the Shadow clone <strike> jutsu </strike> chase. 

She got front row tickets to a good show of Gadget embarrassing himself trying to relay their mission, while dodging all the weird interactions he had with the jackal. When they left his quarters, she decided to return and fill in the blanks - the echidna was dumb, but even he’d caught on to the rookie’s terrible act. 

“So the part where Infinite was called by Eggman to attend to ‘other matters’... he actually had that wolf completely defeated, as I’d expected. That masked maniac could have easily ended him, but he had a seizure or something really wild, and then buggered off to the fortress. Something’s going on that the rookie’s being tight-lipped about, otherwise he would have been dead by now. I knew he didn’t have the power to fend for himself - having a wispon just isn’t enough.”

Knuckles wiped his desk clean in a fit of rage, and belatedly realized that he’d just created hours of document organizing for himself.

“That little red punk. Making our colour scheme look bad here! If you’re so good at this investigating stuff, how do you suggest we beat the truth out of him? He’s compromising everyone’s safety!”

Rouge sighed.

“Well, for starters, leave the beating out…”

_ Why is he even the commander? He can barely protect his green rock… _

* * *

The illusionist materialized in the back of his cohort’s operations room, at the Sunset Heights base.

“Doctor.”

The rotund man squeaked, and threw his salmon eggs benedict all over the monitors. He stood up and kicked his chair over.

“You cursed jackal! What is your issue now?!”

Infinite eyed the hollandaise splattered on the monitors for a moment.

“Create a false military dossier and leak it - make sure to indicate that the main base will be undermanned.”

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but it better be good. Every time you do this to me, I lose trust in you!!!”

He left the way he came, prompting the moustached villain to scream in loss of another perfect meal.

* * *

Gadget couldn’t even comprehend the garbling noises that were the red echidna’s commands through his headset. He flew through Metropolis in a rush as the commands turned into frantic orders to retreat. One sentence continued to loop through his mind.

“_80% of our forces have been wiped out” _

Hundreds of mobians dead at the hands of Infinite. Speak of the devil, and he will appear… right next to him midair, even. Gadget snarled.

“I guess you weren’t lying when you said you really were serious about the war. I’m the stupid one for thinking otherwise… you killed a lot of people. Why? You can have world domination without all the death.”

“You are as naive as you are intelligent. What a dichotomy that makes in your character...”

Gadget was done with the illusionist’s shitty wordplay. He was going to fight dirtier than ever. He’d spent a lot of time with the resistance’s engineers to enhance his collection of wispons - he was sick of the power differential between him and the jackal he seemed to constantly get stuck in confrontations with. Dropping down onto broken infrastructure, he spat at the illusionist who had floated down to meet him halfway.

“You couldn’t truly want world domination, otherwise you would have wiped out our base as soon as you found it! ‘Playing with your food’ be damned! You’ve got good in that nasty temperament of yours. What in Chaos is your intention?”

Infinite scowled, though hidden by the mask.

_ This irritating host has been using what little dominance he can establish to prevent me from doing just that, right from the beginning. Now it has become almost impossible to carry out any of MY objectives_ _! _

“You are NOT supposed to still believe that I have any positive qualities after all this time. Quit meddling in my business, you obtuse fool. I ache to see the life drain from your eyes.”

“Saying that just gives me more reason to meddle in your business! Do you have two personalities or something? You let one run amok for too long and it decides to wreak havoc on the world?”

Infinite faltered - too close to the truth, as far as it also was at the same time. His thoughts had become so merged with those of his host, and it was giving him a chronic headache. 

“This is all _ your _ fault. I will see to it that your frivolous perception of me is shattered.”

The rookie was tackled to the ground, one black-gloved hand firmly on his neck, and another held back, poised to attack with an assemblage of cubes. Gadget growled the best he could with a hand on his windpipe.

“What are you staring at?! End me then, just like you did with my teammates today!”

The single visible iris of the masked menace began to display an off-red colour gradient. Aside from Gadget’s heavy breathing, it was silent for a few moments.

“It was not my intention to cause so much death. I can’t seem to govern the scope of this power.”

The sudden 180 again. Gadget pinpointed it immediately this time. What was wrong with this jackal? And even worse, what was wrong with himself for feeling so off every time the villain revealed this weirdly vulnerable side of his?

“Then just stop doing all of this! I don’t get it! Why do you change your mind so often?!”

Gadget kneed the jackal right in the ruby, hurting himself as well. They both grunted in pain, but Gadget hadn’t enough room to give the attack much momentum. The air grew thick and Infinite snarled. 

“Your teammates were too WEAK to survive in my world!”

Gadget screamed and pushed at Infinite’s body, who seemed to be having a manic episode of some sort. The villain took one hand off of the wolf and ripped his mask off. Both canines froze and stared at each other. Infinite’s irises were rapidly changing between an ominous fuchsia hue, and heterochromatic. Gadget was too shocked at suddenly seeing the jackal’s unmasked visage. After the longest 5 seconds of their lives, the colours finally settled on blue and yellow. Gadget, wanting to somehow figure out the other, reached a hand forward to touch his face. Zero craned his neck down to touch his nose to the rookie’s. Neither knew what in Chaos was going on at this point. Zero closed the gap, and Gadget’s eyes widened before squeezing shut. In that moment, he’d decided to engage in a type of battle he had no experience in. 

* * *

Gadget’s chest heaved as he laid spread eagle. His vision was hazy from the intense aftermath, which he was still feeling in every nerve. Despite that, he was becoming painfully aware of how much he’d just _ screwed _ up with every passing moment. Despite wanting to argue with the jackal currently draped on top of him over this, he knew that he was just as at fault for letting it happen. It takes two to tango, after all…

He was about ten seconds from going full panic. Hoping to calm his growing anxiety over the mess he’d gotten himself into, he opted to crack a joke instead of seriously addressing the issue. 

“Does this make us exhibitionists?”

Infinite snorted.

“I expected you to get angry in this moment, but you always manage to be pleasantly unpredictable. I cannot sense another presence within a 2 mile radius, so you tell me.”

“You’re calling me unpredictable? What did we just do? Does Eggman even allow you to date?”

Zero rolled off of the sweaty wolf and howled.

“You buffoon… I am equal parts disgusted and insulted.”

But he continued to laugh regardless. Crackling coming from Gadget’s headset had both canines flinching in alarm.

“_ROOKIE!_”

“Y-yes, commander?”

“_Oh thank Chaos. We just tracked Infinite’s power right to your location, and feared he’d taken you out too. What’s your situation?! Can you hold your own?! We don’t have the manpower to send you backup right now!_”

“I’m fine! Infinite is uuhh… worn out. Yeah. I won.”

A distant “_What?!_” could have been heard in the background, had Knuckles not been too busy celebrating.

“_You deliver the good news when I needed it most! You’re one outstanding soldier, rookie! See you back at the base soon._”

“I believe it was I that won that tryst we just entangled ourselves in.”

“You finished first, though.”

“You’re much too full of yourself when I had you begging for more not 10 minutes ago.”

Beet-faced, Gadget threw his arms out.

“Well, you’re not wrong...”

Infinite retrieved his mask, prompting the other canine to remember the strange events that had somehow lead up to the intimate encounter.

“What’s with your eyes, by the way? Not the blue one, but like… they were red or something.”

Infinite, facing away from the red wolf, stood frozen. Gadget could have sworn he felt the air drop 10 degrees.

“One is yellow, one is blue. There was never any red.” 

He disappeared a moment later in a cluster of cubes, and Gadget had to sit down and re-process his disaster of a day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most disastrous and regrettable ‘fight’ they’ve had yet
> 
> Gadget always ends up flopping on his ass, or sprawled out on the ground. Boi won’t catch a break any time soon
> 
> I posted dis before but the beginning part didn’t show up. Liiit 🤙


	6. Chapter 6

Gadget stood underneath the stream of lukewarm water, scrubbing himself until his skin was raw in hopes of undoing his actions.

_ Stupid hormones! He must have cast an illusion to make me want that. What the heck. Right in the open too, and after he killed so many people! Chaos… maybe the whole thing  _ ** _was _ ** _ an illusion. Or even this whole war, and I’m in my bed at home tossing and turning right now. I definitely didn’t want that! _

Spinning some baloney to feed the commander had been exhausting, and he just needed to sleep. Forever. But he knew such a luxury would elude him, until he at least attempted to figure out what was going on with that insane jackal. While the red echidna had been fine through a call, his tone was completely different when he’d finally returned to the base. Gadget was mercilessly grilled about his previous fights with the illusionist, leading him to believe that Rouge had narked him out. He managed to feign ignorance concerning the jackal’s bizarre actions, and it wasn’t all a lie considering he really didn’t know for sure what was going on… but he had a nagging feeling in his gut, partially from missing breakfast and lunch, that things were going to come to a head. He would be caught in a lie no matter what move he made.

The headquarters were heavily fortified, from both inside and out. Every soldier’s departure and arrival was recorded by a scanner from all entrances. While it would be easy enough to leave, they would realize he didn’t have any assigned missions at night that required him to leave the premises, and he’d have to come up with a really good cover when confronted. He knew the standard layout of Eggman’s fortresses well enough to navigate it, and with the original Miles Electric that he definitely didn’t steal off a sleeping fox’s nightstand, he could track Infinite’s exact location through his energy use. He hoped this one wouldn’t share the same fate that every piece of equipment he owned had befallen at least once. It was easy for Tails to build simple models of his energy analyzer, but they didn’t even hold a candle to the functionality of his original.

He knew his plan was lousy, and would be more accurately considered improv, but he was being cornered by both the empire and the resistance now. 

_ Why me?! _

This was his biggest motivator. While waltzing up to Eggman’s base like a paper delivery boy was ridiculous, he was also banking on Infinite sensing his presence in a timely manner. With the wild personality changes, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be expecting, but he hoped there would be some way to sway the jackal to at least disband from the empire. He’d gotten enough out of their banter to see that some part of him didn’t want any of this. He hoped he wasn’t being too naive again.

* * *

He didn’t even make it to the outer defenses before the masked menace made his appearance.

“What brings you here, red fool? Though you’ve saved me a moment - I intended to abduct you later tonight.”

Forgetting the reason he’d tracked the illusionist down, he raised his hackles at the faux casual tone.

“What in Chaos for?!”

“I don’t care to entertain your questioning. I will give you two options: join me or face imprisonment in a remote base.”

“Yeesh, didn’t you pull this original one on Shadow too? You must think I have a lot of potential to be any use to you!” 

Red cubes flickered around Infinite, something Gadget assumed he did out of agitation. Despite not intending to bother with the wolf’s inquiries, he began explaining himself.

“Do not misunderstand - I  _ abhor _ you and your frail body. It is this host with the inconvenient attachment towards you. I personally do not see what he finds so alluring.” 

He flippantly turned his nose up, and Gadget had to roll his eyes.

_ Finally, some answers. Figures that the ruby’s got some psychiatric ward escapee as a conscience. _

“Well screw you! You’re not even a person, so you don’t get to use ‘personally’! I get insulted by others in the resistance on a daily basis, your jabs are nothing special.”

“Enough of your annoying complaints. If your goals align with mine, then this foolish jackal may be more acquiescent to my objectives.”

“Get a different host then, you douche hat. Trying to make me join you is a lame plot that Eggman would come up with - the conscience battle must be ruining your ability to think properly. One minute you’re tearing through soldiers like paper, and the next you’re backing off with this guilty air about you. The whole world can see you’re out to lunch!”

Gadget was feeling confident that Infinite had no more legs to stand on, until he started laughing maniacally. The wolf immediately fell into a defensive stance, which only drew more obnoxious laughter from the other. He hovered down to the ground and tilted his head. 

_ I should just blast this guy’s head off right now, but if the actual body belongs to someone innocent then I’d have real blood on my hands… _

The masked jackal straightened his posture to knowingly lock eye contact with the rookie.

“You have damaged my core beyond feasible extraction. Now that you know this body is not simply one of the Doctor’s creations, you also face a similar impasse, do you not? Your feeble morality prevents you from extinguishing life… and I sense a degree of communal affection on your part. Tsk.”

Gadget was offended. Who was he to assume that?

“There is ZERO affection from my part! You made me do… that! With you!”

The illusionist flinched, and his eye colour flickered momentarily. 

“I did no such thing. This jackal managed to take authority over his motor functions - I am certain that you were able to tell when. I would never initiate such bodily contact with vermin like yourself. Your existence continually throws a wrench into all of my plans.”

Gadget knew that Infinite was right in his first point, but would sooner lick a cactus than admit it out loud.

“If you hadn’t been dinking around and throwing wrenches into  _ my  _ plans in the beginning, I wouldn’t have cracked your stupid ruby! You should have learned not to play with your food in your childhood!”

_ Do rubies even have childhoods? _

Infinite grunted at his previous words being thrown back once again.

“You have grown arrogant from the outcome of our past encounters - this vessel may retain enough capability to impede me from wringing your weak little neck, but who is to say about anything else?”

Gadget paused in his anger and took a couple steps back.

“I was initially going to take you as a prisoner of war regardless of your choice, but I have a better proposition. Tag along with me to appease this lovestruck host, and I will refrain from ruining his body.”

The rookie scoffed at what he assumed was a bluff.

“You just said you’re stuck in his body! You’re not going to do anything; you need him to operate.”

Infinite’s chest rumbled with dark laughter, and in a warped second he stood millimetres from the red canine. He pressed a gloved claw against the underside of Gadget’s chin, and tilted it upward.

“No, I do not… I have a perfectly able sack of meat standing before me now, as well as any other fleshbag inhabiting this planet. I may be impeded from fatally wounding you, but I am more than capable of manipulating you to fall in line like the peon you are! I use a host for convenience… but a vessel is only required to be  _ alive _ for me to channel power. Keeping this dog an inch from death would still suit my needs.”

Gadget exhaled in shock - what a disturbed jewel. There was no way it would use its power for good, regardless if it was what the host desired.

“Can you really do that though? I bet the poor sap you’re controlling would make it hard for you!”

More pressure was applied beneath his chin. Gadget strained his neck from the clawed finger, but continued to stand his ground.

“You are suddenly very dependent on someone you don’t even know, hmm? If that is not enough to convince you, then maybe knowledge of your dirty deeds broadcast to the public would change your tune...”

Gadget blanched. He had no tact sneaking here thinking he would be a panacea for this war. He should have gone to bed.

“They wouldn’t believe a word out of your delusional mouth!”

Infinite’s laugh, which he was starting to really hate, rang through his ears. 

“Who said anything about words? The doctor has 99% of the world under surveillance. I hid the footage from Metropolis immediately after our unfortunate rut, but it is still in his database… weigh your options, wolf. What will you choose?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure if it was obvious or not, but I differentiate between Zero and Infinite now that the ruby is damaged enough for Gadget to pick up on change in dominance 👍
> 
> Infinite is one arrogant ass hanky 😒


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it would be a while before I could continue this, but both my jobs and schooling are held off indefinitely lolll

Gadget hated when they were called for mass meetings. Why couldn’t they just slap stuff onto a billboard or something? In the main meeting area, Tails stood front and center.

_ Weird, he doesn’t usually have anything to do with external affairs - why isn’t someone else doing the announcements like usual? _

The commander stood behind and to the right of him for support. He let out a barbaric yell to silence the resistance.

“Tails has been busy maintaining all of our tech, but on the side, he and Amy have been investigating this masked jackal in an effort to find any weaknesses. They will be personally presenting their findings.”

With a nod of encouragement from Amy, Tails straightened the papers in his folder and spoke up.

“Truthfully, we haven’t found much. He is 25 years old, and his criminal record states that at one point he was previously a nomadic mercenary leading a squad of jackals. We haven’t found any information on them beyond the point that Eggman took over the world, leading us to believe that they have perished or dropped off-grid somehow. However, we did find information regarding Infinite’s significant other, whose files are still active-” 

As rudely as expected from the hot-headed echidna, he cut off the kitsune.

“Where in Chaos did you get this information, Tails? It’s gotta be older than Mobius itself - there’s no way she wouldn’t have dumped him after all _ this _.”

Giving Knuckles a weary glare, he remained silent and let Amy take over.

“-but the details have been compromised. The only information left on file was her age and residing city. And yes, _ commander _, that could be the case for all we know - especially considering the tampered data. Either party could have been responsible for that. The files are from a student database, but the school name was redacted as well.”

The red wolf stood off to the side, frozen as his stomach did flip-flops. For his peace of mind, he hoped they’d been broken up already. He already had enough to feel bad about.

“The file indicates that she is currently 20 years old and residing in Sunset Heights, but it is unlikely she will currently be there with its degree of ruin. We have no reason to believe that she was involved in any criminal activity, as her involvement with Infinite transpired after the last recorded offense on his file. This is all the information we have to report so far. We don’t have much to work with in terms of turning this war in our favour, but we will keep you all updated in order to gain leverage.”

_ Were they insinuating a hostage? _ He had half a mind to question the morality of that, but he understood their current position all too well. Sunset Heights was his home, and if the information was true, then he may have seen her around or in school before this war started. With the conclusion of their meeting, Gadget was up and out of the room before anyone else. He was on a time limit, and he didn’t know what Infinite would do if he didn’t wasn’t on time with his decision.

* * *

To the crimson canine’s extreme annoyance, he’d had to wait in front of the Mystic Ruins for almost 15 minutes before the deplorable jackal bothered to make an appearance.

“So? Will I need to be confining you in a cell, or will you work alongside me willingly? I believe that you will find the base in the Mystic Ruins quite comfortable.”

Gadget puffed air through his nostrils in annoyance.

“If I decide I just want to leave and go to bed, is that a feasible option too?”

The illusionist snorted, but stopped it midway. Gadget still heard it regardless.

“Your quips used to amuse me - now your obnoxious voice just grates on my nerves. I had mentioned that you would either be abducted, or you would come willingly. _ Make. A. Choice. _”

“I choose not to rot in a cell, I _ guess… _ so you can get rid of that _ footage _ now, please and thank you.”

The masked mobian cackled at the request.

“I will be keeping it on file in case you decide to rebel.”

_ That’s about how I thought his answer would be. _

“Ugh… what am I doing from now on then? I left the resistance without saying anything.” _ So I hope I won’t be doing anything that will have me in the open. _

Observing the rookie for a moment, Infinite tilted his head downwards almost indiscernibly.

“I have put much consideration into your role for this war. You will accompany me in the destruction of an insignificant fleet of resistance ships. Immediately afterwards, you will be delivering a message through their live broadcasting system…” 

_ No… _

He’d spent the time between their previous encounter and now considering as many scenarios as possible, and none of them had been best-case at all. With the other option being imprisonment, the only thing he could do was comply and hope he could get an opening to betray him… or hope that the resistance would have some faith in him and save him.

* * *

Tails had sent him a notification indicating that none other than Gadget had snuck out in the dead of night, and returned shortly before everyone woke up. Fighting his temper to prevent himself from trashing his office, Knuckles tried calling Gadget’s radio one last time.

“Why would that little shit turn it off? He’s been pushin’ too many of my buttons lately! He better not have turned it off to avoid more interrogation!”

He stood up with more force than necessary, sending his chair into the wall behind. It was used to the abuse by now, and a little duct tape would keep it sturdy a while longer. Knuckles stormed out and made his way to the barracks. A good majority of mobians were still in the recreation area, but some were settling down in their beds. Without addressing them, he began hollering at those who were present.

“Do any of you know the whereabouts of the red wolf, Gadget?!”

Having been startled out of their nightly regimen, they were silent for a moment, before a chorus of negatives were drawn from the bunch. One, however, spoke up.

“I saw him leaving the base an hour ago. He had his duffle bag… so I just assumed he was given a longer term mission.”

They could hear the echidna’s teeth grinding together.

“_ He was given no such thing. _”

He rushed out of the barracks to gather his friends for an emergency meeting.

* * *

Gathered in the control room were Sonic, Tails, Amy, Silver, Shadow, Rouge, and Knuckles. The commander schooled his mental state to convey his concerns as efficiently as he could.

“The rookie that I’ve put so much faith in… he’s done a lot of good for us. However, lately I’ve been gathering a record of his activity and actions that leave me unsure of the resistance’s safety.”

Sonic cut in with a nonchalant air.

“Psh, he’s good stuff. You’re probably just being paranoid, Knux. You don’t have to overcompensate for being _ commander _, dude.”

The echidna cracked his namesakes in irritation.

“Like. I. Said… a _ record _. From both Tails and Rouge. He has stolen from Tails, snuck out multiple times with no indication of what he was doing, and has been submitting false documents of his missions. We have more than enough evidence to need to look into this further - he is currently missing from the base as we speak, which was what prompted me to call you all at such an hour. So if you wanna get shitty with me, then by all means keep buttin’ in with your ignorant opinions!”

Sonic froze up, and made a hand gesture for him to continue speaking.

“I’ve spoken a bit with Tails and Rouge already, and I think there isn’t any point in going after him. He didn’t take any resistance paraphernalia other than a duffle bag, so there isn’t a way for us to track his location. We’ll just have to wait for him to return, but I need all of you to up your guard. He was ridiculously tight-lipped the last time I interrogated him, so unless any of you have more info to add, then I have no idea what his behaviour could indicate.”

They’d never seen Knuckles so composed, and they realized he’d been dealing with a lot more than he let on. His friends nodded sombrely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gadget The Guilty.
> 
> Knuckles isn't taking their recent loss very well 😢


	8. Chapter 8

In the last couple of days, Gadget had almost no time to himself. It seemed that the jackal didn’t need very much sleep or down time. He was almost always busy running - well, teleporting around between fortresses and anything in-between, meaning he got dragged everywhere like a rucksack. With so much power at Infinite’s disposal, it was no wonder that the empire had the upper hand. Tasks that would take a good portion of the resistance’s forces were done solely by the illusionist, and in a fraction of the time. He hadn’t seen much of the actual jackal’s consciousness give rise, and it had to have been because of the red wolf’s constant presence. Then again, it wasn’t like he knew the guy personally - maybe he was a giant asshole like the ruby. He couldn’t really be the judge outside of extreme changes in personality. Gadget still didn’t understand or like any aspect of the circumstances. 

Gadget stood on a promontory in front of the fortress that the resistance had been planning to attack. At the moment, he was a deer in headlights, and had no clue how to look or act. He hoped that this small fleet wouldn’t include any of the higher ups - in other words, Sonic and his friends. Even though he had become chummy with Sonic, and was decently acquainted with his friends, there was still a decent chunk of soldiers that didn’t know of him. Before they drew near enough to be able to make out his person, Infinite leaned in close and growled near the wolf’s ear.

“I expect that you will do your part _ convincingly_.”

“What do you even mean by that? You want me to flash my ass so they know I mean business?”

The illusionist snorted.

“Something tells me that that would be in character for you.”

“What do you take me for?!”

“Tsk… flip them off, tell them to eat shit and die, shoot off extra rounds into the ship’s hulls.”

Despite himself, Gadget let out a shameless guffaw. The first two were things he’d already been doing with some of the soldiers he’d become friends with. He couldn’t tell if the jackal was being sarcastic. There was an awkward silence for a few moments, before Infinite groaned in exasperation.

“I should not have to give you any pointers. Why are you so inept?”

Gadget blew air through his nose, and balled his fists so hard that the joints cracked. He really needed to stop joking around as a coping mechanism.

“Yeah, yeah… don’t crucify me, I’ll play the part. Please… don’t make me kill anyone though.”

The only indication that Infinite even acknowledged his plea was an almost imperceptible glance in his direction.

The empire had taken in a handful of wispons from fallen soldiers, and upgraded them well beyond their original capabilities. It pained the red wolf even more to be using the resistance’s weaponry against them. He’d been forced to test them out the day before, and he deduced that the stats were exponentially boosted. Almost immorally so. He was terrified to use them against his comrades. He decided that now was the time to start firing - its range was more than adequate enough to reach their ships from this distance, but they still seemed far enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about as much damage spread.

“I’m going to get this over with as quickly as possible.”

The jackal idling a few paces behind him only hmphed in approval. Gadget internally scowled, and began systematically firing at the engines and thrusters of each ship. He aimed so that his shots only nicked the ships, because he knew that full on hits would still obliterate them with their distance decreasing so quickly. There were just under a dozen, and they likely weren’t expecting any sort of barrage, or even defense, considering the absence of empire ships and troops. By the time they’d been able to return fire, only a few were still airborn - the rest had nosedived in order to land before they lost all engine functionality. Gadget didn’t continue firing after they’d landed, and he hoped the jackal wouldn’t order him to finish them off. As it seemed by their previous encounters, Infinite enjoyed toying with his enemies, and he gave no indication that he was unimpressed by the obvious mercy that the wolf displayed. 

They were all down, and Infinite was suddenly next to the crimson canine. In his hand was a small projector, and Gadget hesitantly grasped it as a display of the leading vessel’s crew appeared on its screen. Of course it was a handful of people he didn’t want seeing him. Their expressions were a mix of shock, anger, sadness and betrayal. Knuckles began spitting fire.

“You traitorous piece of shit, I knew you couldn’t be trusted! We waited for your scumbag ass to come back yesterday, and clearly that was a waste of time.”

Sonic put a hand on his shoulder in support.

“Buddy… where did you get that wispon from? They shouldn’t even be able to scratch our ships.”

Gadget grunted and forced himself to feel nothing but vitriol towards his friends.

“Where do you think, moron? The empire clearly knows how to make better use of them. And don’t call me ‘buddy’ unless you want a direct taste of its upgrades.”

The blue hog’s face contorted into a sour expression - he hadn’t expected such a cold and cruel response. Before the red wolf could lose his wind, he continued his hate speech.

“You’re all complete fools. It’s no wonder you’ve fallen further and further behind every day - I see a pattern of a sore lack of preparation. Were you all sent off with nothing more than a ‘good luck, have fun’ today? Pathetic.”

Tails slapped his hands down onto the main dashboard.

“I refuse to believe that you were really this horrible all along! That’s not who you are. You’re obviously being controlled! You have a strong fighting spirit, don’t let Infinite keep you under his illusions!”

Knuckles barked at the kitsune in a fit of rage.

“Tails, you’re a good kid, but this two-timing asshole was never our friend!”

Gadget couldn’t keep the act up much longer. He was about to start blubbering like an upset toddler, and if he stood there crying his eyes out then they’d know something was up. He’d have to threaten them.

“I don’t care to hear this obnoxious bickering anymore. I’m being lenient right now, but your presence is grating on my nerves. You’ve been bested, and would only prove to be even dumber than I thought if you still think you have a chance today!”

He lifted his wispon and pointed it down at their ship.

_ Please don’t be stubborn. Just get out of here. We both know you can't afford to take any more hits._

Tails scrambled to get them up in the air, and frantically ordered the rest of their small battalion to follow suit. He cut off the projection signal as they turned tail and disappeared into the sky.

The red wolf had left their backup engines and thrusters intact on purpose. He didn’t know whether they thought he was unaware of their existence, or if they knew he’d avoided them. After the resistance was forced to flee, Gadget lowered his Mk II wispon with dismay. He’d chased his friends off, and set them back even further than they already were. Was he even allowed to refer to them as his friends at this point? They were struggling as it was - the damage he’d caused to their ships may not even be repairable with their low stock of materials. 

Infinite cackled with satisfaction.

“Hah hah hah… oh my. They absolutely HATE you now! I could smell the newfound waves of animosity radiating off of their pathetic little figures. Even the two-tailed fox. They might hate you more than they do myself and the Doctor now… this turned out to be more entertaining than I could have ever imagined.” 

He sneered in Gadget’s direction, but the crimson mobian didn’t even budge. He continued staring at the space where the resistance’s ships once occupied.

The hurt faces he’d been scorned with before they’d taken off were burned into his mind. The wolf had been hoping that they would see through his charade. He shook his head to clear the muddling thoughts. He couldn’t waste any more time dwelling on his emotions; it was imperative that he stayed alert and continued formulating a way to get himself out of the masked menace’s web of manipulation. He hadn’t been allotted much time to sleep since he’d been on Infinite’s regimen, and he silently prayed to Chaos that he’d get a break. In his opinion, he’d done more than a good enough job following orders. 

“Marvelous. The work we have done in just a couple days has put me ahead of schedule… now, do we continue with my tasks or sit back and wait for the Doctor to catch up? There are things I cannot do until he has completed his own assignments.”

_ Holy Chaos, just sit down for once in your life! I hate that this war is like a walk in the park for you. I want a break. I _ ** _need_ ** _ a break. _

Gadget kept silent, as he knew by now that any input he had would be ill-received. If he spoke up, the maniacal jackal would probably make him attack the resistance HQ just for his own entertainment. Much to his chagrin, Infinite approached him.

“What say you, dumb wolf?”

The crimson wolf gawked. Before he could fortify his oral filters, he began running his mouth.

“I want a nap! I don’t know what brand of maniac you are, but 3 hours a night isn’t enough for me!”

_ Shit. Sorry Sonic, looks like I’ll be trashing the headquarters shortly… _

Infinite blew air through his nose - whether from amusement or annoyance, he couldn’t tell.

“Very well then.”

A moment later, and he was standing in the small room that he’d been so graciously given for the duration of his stay. The illusionist was nowhere to be seen. He wanted a hot bath, but the room was very basic and only had a shower with room temperature water. He washed off quickly and flopped onto the single bed. He balled himself up and finally allowed himself to cry. He deserved all the insults his friends threw his way, and he felt so horrible for all the nasty things he’d said and did to them.

_ Infinite didn’t give me a hard time for that at all afterwards. That must have been the host’s influence. _

“Thanks for having my back there, dude...”

* * *

Gadget woke up a few hours later, and he could only guess by the darkness that it was currently unpleasant o’clock in the morning. He was still groggy and exhausted, but he’d missed out on gathering supper from the creepy Eggman-themed fortress kitchen. It made sense that someone as rotund as him would invest in that. He shifted to get out of bed, and scrunched his brows together when he found it difficult to move. Now fully awake, he was made aware of an arm draped over his waist and a chin propped between his ears. His heart rate skyrocketed, and he remained frozen in trepidation. 

He was completely bundled up in a stranger’s arms, even though he distinctly remembered falling asleep alone. Gadget didn’t even think anyone other than Eggman and Infinite resided in these fortresses, and the one he’d been staying at was not the one that the former was currently in. Once his eyes adjusted to the minimal moonlight, he pulled the blanket down to see a pitch black gloveless arm around his torso and a large fluffy tail draped over his legs.

** _It’s Infinite!!!_ **

He expelled every molecule of air from his lungs in shock. The action stirred his unexpected bed mate, and Gadget forced himself to relax and feign sleep to the best of his ability. 

_ Ugh… this is how prey would act. But I don’t want to confront him if he’s waking up right now. This is insane. _

A few moments passed, and the red wolf guessed he’d fallen back asleep. Gadget did his best to do the same, and hoped he wouldn’t be woken up later to an irate jackal.

_ As if this is even my fault though. I’m not the one who crawled into bed with someone while they were asleep! _

“Gadget…”

Said wolf’s vitals shot upward again, and his fur bristled. Judging by how lethargic the other’s voice was, he was still half asleep. There was no way it was the ruby that had willingly snuggled up to him like this. Gadget eventually fell back into an uneasy slumber alongside the intruding jackal, and when he’d woken up in the morning, he was alone. His muscles were sore from falling asleep in such a rigid position.

“I hope he doesn’t say anything about this to me later…”

_ Even though I want to give him a piece of my mind for invading my space like that! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gadget is an okay actor. Too bad that the others bought his schtick. At least he's got an indiscriminate cuddle buddy to cheer him up at night 😅


	9. Chapter 9

Gadget raced for the kitchen so he could grab himself a double helping of food to make up for missing supper. He was stiff but well rested, despite having been intruded on so unexpectedly the night before. The wolf continually reminded himself that he wasn’t going to bring it up, no matter how badly he wanted answers. Usually he’d be given an exact time to meet with the jackal, yet their last conversation had been when he’d asked for sleep. He supposed it was also because Infinite had mentioned them being ahead of schedule, that there had been no expected time for him to be ready by. 

He finished stuffing his face, and cautiously made his way down to the main floor. It was empty, which was out of the norm - the previous days, Infinite had always been standing there impatiently. He stood there for a moment, and considered returning to bed, before footsteps behind him cut that thought short. Gadget turned to face the illusionist with an awkward stare, and of course, an unfiltered mouth.

“You’re a snuggler, huh?”

Infinite paused in his footsteps, and audibly cracked the joints in his fingers as his hands clenched. Gadget’s heart dropped into his stomach in trepidation.

_ So much for not bringing it up. I’ve run my course of usefulness and this is where I die. _

“Do not get the wrong idea. This jackal has all the time in the world to sleep while I am in control. When it becomes necessary for me to give my powers a rest, he has more dominance over his body. The last thing I would have liked to do was crawl into bed with _ you_. I spent half an hour bathing this moron’s body to get the stench of wolf out this morning. If you bring this up again, I will smite you and string your remains over the resistance’s sad little base.”

Gadget backed away and put his hands up to signify his understanding. It was extra creepy, but a bit humorous, that it sounded somewhat like the jackal was talking in third person. He at least had the sense to not laugh out loud at the thought.

“Chaos… point made. You won’t hear another word of it from me.”

* * *

On their dubious flight back to base, the commander and his fleet were silent out of astonishment, aside from Tails’ sniffly nose. Sonic patted his shoulder empathetically, but for once, had no words of support to offer. When they returned to headquarters, they’d all known that their first order of business was to gather for a meeting. The sniffling fox was surprisingly the one to instigate their toolbox talk.

“Guys… please think about this a bit more. Gadget is a great guy, how can you discount his loyalty to us so easily? He has to be under an illusion, and I won’t hear any of you badmouthing him any more. He could have ended us with how insanely upgraded that wispon was…”

Knuckles, who was sleep deprived and only running on rage at this point, was still sceptical.

“Here’s a bit of reality for you, fox boy. _ Infinite could have ended us any time now too. _ We’re a joke to them. I get that you’re tryin’ to be optimistic, but this is on another level from what we’ve dealt with in the past. I know you know that, Tails. We can’t afford to give that wolf the benefit of the doubt.”

The kitsune forced himself to stop crying in hopes that his argument would prove to be more convincing. Sonic stepped forward to give his input, in order to prevent things from derailing into an argument between a sobbing fox and hotheaded echidna.

“Let’s think about this more rationally, yeah? Knux, he did purposefully leave the backup thrusters and engines alone, which I’m not positive Infinite would have done had he been the one in action. Regardless of the rookie’s alignment, we can be sure that that masked maniac is just using him to play with our minds and emotions. The only other thing is how they got their hands on our wispons. If Gadget has been coming and going during times where no missions were assigned, then I can’t help but wonder if he’s been bringing Egghead our wispons.”

Tails put his hands up to interject.

“We don’t know that for sure though!”

“Tails, he stole from you!”

The two-tailed fox clamped his maw shut and glared daggers at the red mobian, who only returned the look. Sonic waited for a moment, before continuing his rebuttal.

“Another thing is that we don’t know how much compromising data Gadget has in his possession, and we really don’t know for sure how long he has been double crossing us for - if that is the case at all. I know both of you have extremely opposing views right now, but when you look at the big picture, we need to get the rookie back on our side either way, even if that loosely refers to a hostage scenario. If Eggman and Infinite know where we bunk, it’s over - Gadget knows his way around here like the back of his hand. If he’s told them already, then…”

Tails and Knuckles were both surprised at the dark implications of their longtime friend’s words. As carefree as Sonic came off, they knew he was compelling when he needed to be, and they were in agreement with his analysis. Both parties had settled down a bit, and they allowed themselves a moment to mull everything over. Knuckles finalized their plans.

“It’s settled then. I think having Silver and Shadow will make this easier, even though they’re both pretty spread thin as is. Tails, if you and Amy can figure out anything about their next move-” at the indignant look on the two tailed mobian’s face, he grunted, “-yeah yeah, I know you’ve been doing that anyway. Just- even knowing their location. That’s all we’d need. If you can find any more info about Infinite and the girlfriend he supposedly has, that could prove useful too… I think we should really be considering that _ leverage _ you’d insinuated earlier…”

The fox’s features contorted back into a look of understanding.

* * *

After a quick round of sobbing on Tails’ part, he sat down to work alongside Amy in his lab to continue their research. She didn’t see the point in doing any more searching when the fox was desperately needed all over their base at the moment.

“I’m not sure why Knuckles thinks we’ll be able to find anything new, in all honesty. If Eggman went out of his way to mess with people’s files, I highly doubt even you will be able to recover anything. I can’t stop wondering what needed to be hidden in the first place.”

Tails was silent for a moment as he tried to think of alternate routes or other private sources that could have personal information. He dwelled on Amy’s words, before an idea reared itself.

“You just made me think of something to at least try. Eggman isn’t stupid - he would have wiped any cached files, but maybe he wasn’t as thorough as he was with the real-time copies. I never even bothered to check, but it’s worth a shot.”

He began tapping away at his keys; making his way into private files didn’t require much skill when the government wasn’t even able to actively manage their databases with the war raging on. He quickly gained access to the compendium of cached pages, and was astonished to see them completely accessible and untouched.

“Maybe it wasn’t Eggman who fudged up the files at all… even a rookie scientist wouldn’t have ignored these; I know where to give Egghead credit.”

The pink hedgehog linked her monitor with Tails’ to help in his search.

“You think maybe Gadget or Infinite did it then? I’m gonna have to rule out Eggman on this too then.”

Amy typed the masked jackal’s name, but there were no results. 

“Weird… so it must have been him that tampered with the files. Why would he mess with his current document, but delete the cache entirely? It doesn’t make sense.”

Tails peered over at her monitor with a pensive look.

“I saw no sign of tampering in the coding for the archives. So it likely means that Infinite isn’t his real name, if that name brings up no results.”

Amy typed in the crimson wolf’s name, and scanned his files. Tails took a glance at it, and narrowed his eyes in familiarity.

“I just got hit with a deja vu…”

He exited the caches, entered the real-time documents, and brought up the file that had been linked with Infinite as his significant other. Amy let out a surprised gasp.

“There’s only one school in Sunset Heights, right?”

“Yeah… It was kinda pointless that whoever was dabbling in these files redacted the name if they figured the city wasn’t worth erasing.”

“Then Gadget is the same age, lived in the same city, and went to the same school as Infinite’s girlfriend. I wonder if they were friends.”

The fox didn’t respond. He read through the discrepancies between the two files on their screens a few more times, and tried searching for the red canine in the present files. After multiple searches came up with no results, he hesitantly opened his mouth.

“No… Gadget _ is _ the ‘girlfriend’. And now we’ve got Infinite’s real name too.”

* * *

While resistance soldiers were doing what they could to repair their ships, Sonic and Knuckles had sought out the backup they wanted - namely one psychokinetic, and one biologically engineered hedgehog. They were understandably miffed over having more missions dumped on them, but agreed to whatever the commander needed from them nonetheless. Knuckles was also miffed over the rising levels of disarray within their headquarters. At this rate, the only way they could possibly get their technology on par with the power level of the empire was if they had clones of the two-tailed fox. He barged towards his wing of their base and slammed the door open, just as Tails had been about to open it. Amy stared at the echidna with a mother’s level of disapproval. 

“Really… you can’t even manage to not be a knucklehead during a war?”

She hauled the unconscious fox up onto his cot. Knuckles kept his mouth shut out of guilt.

“We were _ just _ on our way to bring you some pretty important news. We found the identity of the file that was linked with Infinite’s documents - it’s Gadget. You should probably convene here with Sonic, Silver and Shadow and figure out what the next step will be. I’ve been doing some strategizing from the enemy’s point of view, and I think that there is more than a 50% chance that Gadget and _ Zero _ are preparing a strikedown on our Imperial tower raid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone know what is going on in this war
> 
> I don’t


	10. Chapter 10

After almost being shredded to bits by the ill-tempered jackal, Gadget had been led to the control room. There, he was shown rows of monitors that revealed just how little of a chance the resistance truly had. He hadn’t been lying - 99% of the world was indeed under surveillance. He was itching to know why Infinite was still keeping the resistance’s location from Eggman. As if reading his mind, the illusionist spoke up.

“Truthfully, I would have liked to give the fat man your location long ago, as it would further our progress_ very _quickly. But I can feel it - I loathe to admit how little control your meddling has left me with. If I do anything that may compromise your safety, this host will cause more trouble for me than would be worth it.”

He discouraged any response on the wolf’s part with a dismissive wave, before pointing at one screen in particular.

“This is the fortress where I keep-”

“Keep what?”

Infinite’s head whipped in his direction, and the wolf stood frozen in place for a few moments. Gadget stammered out a quick ‘sorry’ before the illusionist could consider maiming him for the interruption.

“... I do not feel it necessary for you to be filled in now.”

Gadget balked, but didn’t argue. Even he could understand how annoying it was to be cut off. His lack of thought processing had just caused him to lose out on important information.

_ Stupid mouth again! _

“_ Continuing on_, I am able to breach resistance communications quite easily with my power. This fortress will be their next target, and I am sure they know that I am aware. Can you guess what I will be asking for you to do, dim one? Unfortunately, when they plan to attack was never discussed while I listened in. I’m very busy, and do not have time to sit around and listen to their drivel to find any more information. It seems that they have stopped logging their mission details in their systems - they are getting sloppy, but it is at their advantage in this case.”

Of course, Gadget knew he was going to be forced to defeat them again. It was worrying that this time around, he didn’t have the luxury of knowing exactly what they’d planned on doing so that he could figure out the best possible outcome for it.

“What I am only sure of is that the attack will happen some time in the next few days. I will be leaving you to your own devices there, until they arrive. I’m sure you know that you’ll be under surveillance… not that the conditions of our little deal wouldn’t be enough to keep you in place.”

* * *

He’d promptly been dropped off and left alone without another word, making him wonder what the illusionist could possibly be doing for him to get left on his own like this. Gadget was relieved to have some time to himself, even if he had to spend it frantically devising multiple plans that would cover all scenarios. Thinking of strategies was surprisingly helpful for his own covert plan of trying to sabotage his own, even if he often found himself hitting his head on the desk he’d stationed himself at. He was only losing some of the remaining sanity he had, it wasn’t that big of a deal. He’d labeled his plans with letters to connect them to each other in different combinations.

“If they do X, then I can counteract with Y.” _ But given the chance, I could also join them in doing X, or aid them with Z. _ “Ugh, I don’t even know if any of this makes sense…”

What the oblivious rookie didn’t know, was that Infinite had holed himself up in the top level of the tower. 

“Damn this stupid body, and damn myself for being so arrogant as to let that wolf do so much damage to my core.”

He’d been keeping the Chaos emeralds in the Imperial Tower since the beginning of the war, in order to maintain his advantage over the resistance. He didn’t have anywhere near the IQ of his egg-shaped accomplice, but he’d hoped he could use Dr. Robotnik’s machinery to alter its energy and repair himself with it. The reality was that it simply wasn’t possible with his level of expertise, but he’d been surprised by what aptitude he did have, considering he’d never been fused with a living creature before. It was as if the host had an amateur degree of motor skills for technology, which had been the only reason why he’d been able to do things like alter files and breach lower security communication lines.

Regardless, it didn’t matter that he’d been successful in changing the Chaos emerald’s energy signature, because his own core was still rejecting it despite their similarities. It just wasn’t possible for him to completely match it with his own, and asking for the Doctor’s help would only instigate a string of events likely ending poorly for himself - he would be seen as a liability, despite all the success he’d brought them up to this point. He slumped down against the wall and the metal floor to stare at the monitor depicting Gadget busying himself with the jackal’s dirty work.

“It seems that I will not be able to repair the fissure, or even keep it from expanding…”

* * *

With Knuckles issuing a top priority command to meet in Tails’ part of the base, it didn’t take long for the three hedgehogs to arrive. Sonic opened his mouth to panic at the sight of his two tailed friend passed out, but Knuckles put a hand up.

“I hit him on the forehead with the door. No time to argue over it, because we’re changing our plans for the Imperial Tower raid tomorrow. Tails and Amy figured out whose file it was that had been compromi-”

“Right on! But you don’t need all of us to snatch up one girl, _ commander_.”

The commander grit his teeth, but didn’t bother to lose his temper. He should have been used to the blue blur grinding his gears by now.

“Well, lucky for you it isn’t ‘one girl’.”

“Infinite was a player?” 

If Knuckles hadn’t already knocked Tails out by accident, he would have given Sonic his just desserts.

“We don’t have the option of a hostage, because it turns out that Gadget was the girlfriend all this time. So in a way, if we can manage to get him out of Infinite’s grubby hands, it’ll technically be killing two birds with one stone.”

They would have been in disbelief prior to the last leg of this war. Now, it was uncannily believable. Silver hesitantly rose his hand before speaking.

“Did they double check their info?”

“Its validity makes no difference at this point. Tomorrow, we capture the stupid wolf, and if possible, retrieve the Chaos emeralds.”

Every conscious mobian, minus Amy, turned to grace the red-striped hog with looks that he couldn’t help but feel offense to.

“Are you really that surprised? Did you think they’d just disappeared off the face of Mobius? You all may have varying degrees of an affinity for Chaos energy, but that doesn’t matter when their energy has been warped beyond recognition - which I did not think possible until now. It would definitely be something typical for the doctor to come up with, though.”

The kitsune’s accomplice chimed in.

“Neither Tails or myself could find any hints as to why he’d want to mess around with their energy. Isn’t it weird that he would even bother using them in the first place? As far as we know, the phantom ruby’s power far outclasses all 7 emeralds and the master emerald combined, and as far as they know, we have absolutely no means to counteract them. When Tails wakes up, he has something to show everyone. I don’t know much about it, but he insisted that it would be our trump card! It has drawbacks though…”

* * *

Gadget had spent the day pissing himself in anticipation for their arrival, and was a bit miffed to have spent so much time panicking when the resistance hadn’t shown up at all.

“I guess that means it’s tonight or tomorrow then…” 

_ I don’t think I’ll be able to get away with any of my plans. Infinite will ruin everything no matter what route I take. Will I have to live with the consequences of the ruby injuring the guy he’s using as a puppet? At this point I’m already hated by the resistance, so outing what we did on the bridge wouldn’t do much more damage… _

He rifled through his papers to try and rematch his plans, and cursed at how hard it was to read the shoddy greek alphabet he’d used for his anti-empire plans out of paranoia.

“Why did I even bother? That arrogant ruby always says he’s _ too busy _ for this and that, and he thinks I’m too much of a pansy to go against him anyway.”

_ I totally am._

He spent the night awake in fear that they would attack under the cover of darkness, and was even more disgruntled that he’d wasted precious sleep for nothing. Unless Infinite had been yanking his tail all this time for a twisted laugh, then today was the day. Right on cue, the jackal was outside and looking down on him from above.

“They will not believe that you are here on your own volition if you break face and blubber like you almost did the first time. Do what you must to convince them, wolf. You did well enough the last time, but it will not be as easy."

Letting out a guttural snarl, Gadge was too tired to keep his annoyance under wraps. He still hadn’t decided what plan to stick with; he was long past caring about the outcome at this point, because nothing he could do would prove to be favourable. This was war; it was inevitable that innocent parties would get hurt. It was up to his instincts to decide, which he quietly scoffed at. He was a city boy - his instincts were still crap, even if they’d been sharpened since the start of the war.

“You needn’t worry your feeble little mind over the tower itself at least. Your focus is on defeating the resistance.”

Gadget glanced behind him to see that it was completely veiled in a hue of fuchsia.

_ This jerk can obviously handle this on his own and my friends all hate me enough already. Stupid jackal, why do you like me?! _

This time, there were no fleets transporting the resistance.

“Curious. They either could not afford the repairs to their ships, or figured they wouldn’t serve them well enough against us. Hahaha!”

The two-timing wolf’s joints cracked as he bunched his fingers up. He was hoping they’d be stupid and bring the ships again, but realistically, he knew they wouldn’t after the first outcome. Barring any wild cards they could have, being on foot would make it harder for Gadget to defeat them, unless the illusionist were to intervene. He was sure that if the odds proved to be out of his favour, Infinite would ensure their victory anyway. 

A loud thud from behind him had his head instinctively whipping back in fright. Infinite had seemingly decided to stand in lieu of his usual hovering… at least, that was what he’d assumed, until the jackal teetered and passed out on the ground. Gadget screeched in confusion, but before he could make any sudden moves, his eyesight was marred by upkicked dirt from a sudden gust of wind. He was snatched off his feet like the target for a game of capture the flag, and a second later, he found himself far away from the tower and right in the midst of the resistance fighters. He was flattened on the ground by a dogpile, his arms pressed together behind his back, and cuffed. His legs received the same treatment, and when the weight was lifted from his torso, he rolled over onto his bound arms with a groan to lock eyes with emerald ones.

“Hah! Success on my part. Now it’s up to the broody and naive team to steal back their spoils!”

Gadget’s eye ridges scrunched together in confusion.

“Wh-”

A foot gently tapping his cheek halted his inquisition.

“Shut up, prisoner. Anything you say can and will be used against you.”

The rookie gulped, but nodded in understanding. Sonic cracked a grin and laughed, despite the situation. 

“Just kidding, buddy! But seriously, we’ll be having a talk later.”

The dread that had begun pooling in his gut ebbed away as he returned a smile of his own in relief. It faded when he realized just what the ‘talk’ would entail, and that Infinite could potentially see this as treason and harm the jackal he was manipulating. There was nothing else he could do at this point, and a guilty part of him was happy to be out of Infinite’s grasp. He hadn’t accounted for this outcome, but he was no tactician after all. Gadget belatedly remembered the jackal’s body toppling over just before he was whisked away, and an itch to know what happened manifested in his mind. What could have possibly gone wrong? Did something go awry with the host or the ruby? It was possible that the resistance had a hand in it too. Even though Sonic was only joking, it had reminded him of his current status in their ranks, and he didn’t feel he had the right to be privy to any information.

* * *

Shadow’s jet shoes clanked against the metal floor as he warped inside the top of the defenseless tower, with a panicked telekinetic in tow.

“55 seconds left!”

They rapidly scanned the room, and were dismayed to find that the emeralds were still heavily guarded despite the phantom ruby’s powers being nullified. 

“Damn, I was certain that they would be contained by Infinite. We should have brought Tails here.”

The two hedgehogs began tampering with the equipment. Their computer knowledge was novice at best, and after 20 seconds of uselessly fumbling with passcodes and trying to dismantle parts, Silver desperately radioed the kitsune for aid.

“TAILS, WE’RE TOO DUMB FOR THIS!”

“_What?! Well the minute is almost up! It’s too late already. Infinite’s power will return, and you do _ ** _not_ ** _ want to be there when it does!” _

Shadow scoffed.

“We have tons of t-GUHH!”

The biohog dropped to a knee and clenched a hand in his chest fur. Panic kicking into maximum overdrive, Silver squawked in worry.

“What’s wrong?!?!”

Shadow took a deep breath to regain his focus.

“The emeralds have had their energy warped to the point of being noxious… get me out of here, Silver. The latent Chaos energy in my body is reacting negatively. We… will take the loss and hope that Sonic was at least successful.”

Without another word, the ivory hedgehog surrounded his pained comrade in energy and flew them out through a window of the tower.

* * *

When the two returned to regroup, they were relieved to see Gadget chained up on the ground. Sonic refrained from commenting on their failure for the sake of precious time. Silver was sheepish as he spoke up.

“Sorry, guys. If it’s any consolation, I don’t think Eggman and Infinite will be using the emeralds for anything in the state they’re in - they're even worse off than we'd initially figured. Could we use that energy disrupter thingy again for our escape now?”

The two tailed inventor grimaced.

“You already forgot? We don’t have enough power to allocate for it - at the quickest, it would take a day to recharge! It would work limitlessly with an emerald, which I’d been accounting for… but that’s obviously not an option, so we need to blow this popsicle stand! Shadow, are you able to get us a good distance away from here at least?”

Sonic approached the darker hedgehog in preparation, before recoiling at the negative energy he sensed oozing from Shadow’s core.

“He is _ sooo _ not ‘good to get us away’. Looks like we’re booking it my style, and hoping that the masked maniac is too disoriented to come after us!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one lets anybody finish their sentences round this hovel 😤
> 
> And that's where those damn emeralds went. Infinite is going to be _cranky_ boi, and Gadget bout to humiliate himself in front of the entire resistance when they corner him,, Silver and Gadget got that same “panicked pterodactyl” energy going on
> 
> <strike>If you're interested in talkin infidget or anything, feel free to drop your discord here 🙏 I've been driving my friends crazy with my obsession lmao</strike>


	11. Chapter 11

A groan came from a body crumpled on the dusty ground, before the single eye visible from its owner’s mask cracked open. Vision spinning, the jackal couldn’t form any coherent thoughts or even get up from his indignant position in the dirt. He only managed one thing before passing out once again.

“Gadget…” 

* * *

The resistance had deemed their mission a partial success, Knuckles insisting it was more than partial considering they made it back to base without being skinned alive by Infinite. Gadget was forced to wait just inside the base, surrounded by soldiers who didn’t utter a peep. Shadow’s energy needed to be stabilized, and luckily for him, Tails was able to do that by replicating his personal signature.

“Damn. If you’d been with us, you could have done this for the emeralds too.”

“This is only temporary. I’d have needed a lot more power than was likely available to change them back if their energy was scrambled enough to do this to you.”

He ignored the ornery hedgehog as he grumbled angrily about his failure and lack of foresight. Tails was tired, and they both needed to get down to the main wing for confrontation. He made quick work of mending what he could with as much electrical output he could divert, and signaled to Shadow that they were ready to leave.

“That was easy for you, fox boy. Why can’t you change all of that poisoned energy in my body?”

He almost snapped, but schooled himself. Everyone was strung up from the war, and Shadow was already easily irritable in normal circumstances. He was going to be the bigger person between them.

“It’s called energy management. If I took too much power, it would shut down parts of the base and we’d have more setbacks than we could deal with. As long as you don’t use any of your powers, you’ll be fine. Once we get the emeralds and store enough power, I can revert everything. Just be thankful you’re not on the ground writhing in pain, please?”

The biohog was at least mature enough to concede to straight logic, and was silent the rest of the way. The soldiers scattered as they were given orders for their upcoming missions just as Gadget was shoved forward and surrounded by some of the resistance’s originators. He shouldn’t have been surprised that all four hedgehogs along with Tails and Knuckles would stare at him so judgmentally - they had every right to. The commander grunted as he took an authoritative step forward, causing Gadget to instinctively lean backward, still restrained and unable to really step back. 

“So? Do we need to beat answers outta you, or will you spill like a good prisoner? You’ve been on our side as a double agent all this time to gather intel for your loving _ boyfriend_?”

Amy booted his ankle with a stern look his way, but made no other move to dissuade his ‘interrogation’ tactics.

“No- what?! He said he was gonna kill himself! Chaos-”

He cut himself off when everyone’s faces screwed up into complete bafflement. Sonic shouted in victory, which caused Gadget to match his facial expression with the rest of them. He was close to peeing himself in panic.

“You all hearing this? A sane person would never blabber like that! He’s under an illusion! _ I knew it_.”

Tails was about to interject over who exactly it was that had actually proposed the illusion theory, but Gadget spoke over him.

“Er. I am sane! I just worded that badly. Actually… I knew what I was doing the whole time. It was blackmail, not an illusion.”

The group’s collective facial expression didn’t budge, until Knuckles blew up.

“What the hell kind of blackmail makes you shit talk to us and destroy our ships like that?! Did he find embarrassing photos of you at a christmas party or something?! Tails, you were dead wrong on Gadget being under an illusion, you owe me! And why wouldn’t he just control you instead, why blackmail?!”

Gadget’s poor instincts told him he could dodge their questioning, even though he was scared of the additional repercussions on top of the ones he was already going to face for the things he did against them.

“I don’t want to elaborate. Can I just say that it was the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my life, and leave it at that?”

“NO!”

The rookie flinched, but stupidly pressed it further.

“It’s something I would never do again, I swear!”

They all resolutely shook their heads, and he knew he was going to have to fess up soon. Sonic had lost his lighthearted tone with Gadget’s insistence on hiding things.

“Dude, you shot down our ships and used our weapons against us. You’re not really in a position to be keeping anything else from us; this could have been prevented. If you’re gonna refuse to give us any information, then we’ll have to officially mark you as an enemy and detain you. Things are fucking _ hard _ for us right now, I’m sure you know well.”

The rookie’s heart raced faster than the angry hedgehog’s legs could ever go.

“After Operation Big Wave was a failure, I ran into Infinite-”

“Alright we gathered that much, considering you had a call with Knuckles right after! You said you defeated him. You were alive to tell the tale, so we took your word for it. But if you don’t cough up the truth right now, we won’t believe anything else you say from this point onward!”

“I’m sorry for lying! We didn’t even fight… I slept with him on a broken bridge in Metropolis.”

If a pin had dropped in that moment after, it would have been heard. They had nothing to say to that - absolute silence ensued. All of the uncertainty revolving around the legitimacy of those documents was starting to clear up in their minds. 

“See why I didn’t want to say anything? The main reason why I was following him was because he said he would kill himself and force the… the _ footage _ onto the eyes of the entire resistance.”

Amy, who had been so sure of the situation, was at a loss. She’d figured that the jackal had used a good old fashioned ‘if you love me you’ll be my faithful peon in this war’ to blackmail him, but in hindsight, it was a dumb theory.

“Um… pardon?”

Gadget’s fur was beginning to mat with sweat.

_ If they’ve already lost all faith in me, they won’t believe any of this. _

“W-wait let me back up for a moment. Infinite isn’t just another one of Eggman’s mechs, Infinite is the ruby! The actual jackal is a real mobian.”

“How the hell do you even know this? Are you just trying to make up a cover for your _ boyfriend _ thinking we’ll just let everything slide? I’m a commander, not a clown!”

“The phantom ruby is damag-” the crimson canine belatedly realized something. “Wait what, you were serious when you said boyfriend before?! I AM NOT DATING HIM… IS THIS WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TRYING TO FORCE OUT OF ME?!" Another belated realization, this one far more horrifying. "**_OH NO_**. DID THAT ASSHOLE SOMEHOW SHOW YOU THE FOOTAGE ALREADY?!”

“What footage?!”

“That’s the blackmail I was talking about! On the bridge!”

“If we’d seen your amateur porn tape, you'd best believe we’d have gouged our eyes out already!”

Gadget sighed in relief. If Infinite really was going to force the video in their faces, at least they had a warning so they could look away and plug their ears.

“Okay… I’m sorry. Anyway… some of the fights we’ve had were basically him screwing around with me because he’s arrogant, so I managed to get close and hit where it matters - I cracked the ruby. The host started to be able to regain control… sometimes. So _ like I said_, the ruby said he would expose me and hurt his host if I didn’t tag along.”

“Alright, _ still not making much sense_, but why does he want you specifically?!”

“Apparently the host likes me! I already asked, and I still have no idea why! He’s been sabotaging some of Infinite’s plans. That’s why I’m not dead, I don’t know anything else, I swear!”

“Well you must like him a lot if you let him between your legs so easily, if you weren’t being controlled by an illusion huh?! Why did we find older caches of your government documentation saying you _ lived _ with that psychopath before the war started?”

Gadget grunted in exasperation and embarrassment.

“You guys have been finding all sorts of bogus information, you’re honestly not very good at it! I’m sorry but those documents have obviously been tampered with, and I bet it was Infinite himself. Another one of his psychological games. I wasn’t being controlled… so please don’t heckle me about it anymore, and give me a chance to make things right. If I screw up again, you’re free to kill me or lock me up. _ Please._”

Knuckles breathed in deeply to calm down, staying silent as he regained his bearings and processed the information. Sonic stepped forward.

“We’ll take your word for this then - you’re getting _ one _ chance.”

He undid the sets of shackles, and Gadget scratched his wrists in relief. 

“I think… if we can get another crack in the ruby, it would be enough for that host to regain more control over himself. Tails? Uhh. I don’t know how this stuff works, but if he were hypothetically free from the ruby’s influence long enough to get him into your lab…?”

“Yes. I could most certainly extract it. Eggman would not have embedded the ruby so deeply into that mobian’s chest that it would make its removal difficult… or messy.”

The hammer-toting hedgehog finally spoke up after listening to most of the interrogation in silence.

“So what do you propose we do to make this happen then, Gadget? You’ve had more _ close contact _with that menace than any of us.”

The rookie scowled at her dirty insinuation, but he figured it was a small price to pay in order to regain their trust.

“Yeah… I won’t be able to do it alone though. He’ll likely be overloaded with paranoia and rage now that you’ve managed to get the upper hand on him and knock him out like that. I do think we need to hurry too-”

The moody hedgehog chose that moment to cut in.

“Now that we know the ruby is cracked, it kind of makes sense that him and the doctor were trying to warp the emeralds. He clearly intended to use their power to compensate for the energy he’s losing.”

Gadget’s cheeks puffed out in confusion.

“I didn’t think there was much in that fort- OH. That was what he was going to tell me! Ugh… actually, I don’t think that Eggman has actually been doing much since Infinite rose to power. Other than sticking that ruby into the jackal’s chest, it’s mostly been Infinite pulling the strings. I was looking through terminal data, and Eggman hasn’t been to the Imperial Tower in months.”

“Heh. You know, it makes sense really. Egghead’s never gotten this far with his dumb ploys, after all. So if we can crack that masked idiot’s ego-_ ahem _, ruby some more, we can put him out of commission? Between all of us, I think we could manage that. Silver-”

“Don’t make me fight him please!”

Sonic’s brow ridges scrunched together.

“... I was only gonna say that we need you on standby to hold him still when you can manage.”

The telekinetic hog had long since shuffled to stand behind everyone, still embarrassed by his outburst in the tower.

“Ah… yeah, I totally figured. I can manage that.”

Sonic whooped.

“Then it’s settled! We'll hash out the details after a night's rest. Sorry buddy, but for obvious reasons, we’re gonna keep you supervised for the night. It’s not much of a plan, but Tails and Amy will work on pinpointing Infinite’s location, and tomorrow we’re heading out. If Gadget isn’t lying, and our assumptions have some merit, this could be it guys… this can all finally be over.”

He was hopeful. It had been a while since the blue hog donned a smile that actually reached his eyes. With that sobering statement, everyone else was fueled by their friend’s contagious positivity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry Gadget, but you have to get roasted after admitting your little secret. It's mandatory. 
> 
> He'll laugh about it down the road,, <strike>only after suffering many digs on his morality. He'll be a nice medium well roast by that time</strike>


	12. Chapter 12

He had no other choice. As it stood, it was questionable whether enough energy currently remained in his core to make it, but he took his chances and teleported to the fortress where it had all begun. To his misfortune, the doctor was in the very room he’d arrived in, haphazardly typing away. The rotund man, so ensconced in the array of snacks strewn across the keyboards, didn’t even bother to look his way as he addressed him.

“Ah, Infinite. I trust everything is under your control?”

The jackal let out a quiet, shaky breath in hopes that he could keep his voice from wavering out of its usual authoritative baritone.

“Yes. I am busy; my stop here will be brief.”

Without giving his lazy accomplice a chance to respond, he lumbered into the elevator and painstakingly made his way to one of the secondary experimentation labs.

_ That obnoxious oaf would be in the main lab. Tch. I just need a manual fill-in to replenish my energy quicker, and of course none of the other fortresses have enough electricity or the proper equipment to channel energy. Without these cracks, recovery would have been a non-issue. _ ** _I refuse to be taken out this way!_ **

* * *

It had been uncomfortable trying to sleep when a pair of resistance soldiers were in the cots on both of his sides, fully awake and glancing at him too often for his own comfort. Regardless, it was still a bit easier to fall asleep than the time he’d woken up to find himself spooned by none other than Infinite… the morning came, and Gadget was all too eager to meet up with everyone and formulate a solid plan, even if they were all extremely wary of his loyalty.

_ Totally understandable… _

Once everyone was gathered, Amy and Tails laid out their findings as they rubbed at the bags under their eyes. 

“The Eggman Empire Fortress.”

Knuckles scoffed, unsurprised, but let the hammer-toting hedgehog continue.

“According to our data, this is where Infinite was ‘created’. If what the rookie said is true, then he is currently incapacitated due to his power seeping through fissures in the ruby.”

“Don’t you think he’ll have his guard up now that we’ve finally one-upped him? And won’t Eggman be there too?”

Even though Gadget was feeling guilty and unworthy of speech, he was sure that his input was vital. Sonic glanced his way after posing the question, giving him the confidence to speak up.

“Yeah, there’s no way he isn’t losing his mind over it. It’s likely he’ll have already found a temporary fix to replenish his energy, so we can’t expect him to be _ weak _at all. As for Eggman, like I mentioned before, Infinite’s success rate has been so astronomically high that he’s taken a back seat. The way Infinite would fret about his energy level whenever he would forget I was nearby tells me that Eggman monitors it, because he doesn’t completely trust him still. He’ll likely only bother to show up once the ruby’s power is on a steady decline, which is the plan - have a battalion ready to arrest him the moment he does.”

“Alright, good idea! I think the dream team will be able to tackle masked and angry on our own.”

Everyone stared at him with confusion and uncertainty, causing Sonic to roll his eyes.

“... I just meant like… me, Shads, Silver, and of course good ol’ buddy. You know… the tanks and then the meek ones behind the scenes providing support.”

In tandem, Gadget and Silver squawked indignantly. 

“I’m not meek!”

Their heads whipped to face each other in surprise, before resigning to their title.

“We are meek…”

“Guys, I was joking. As it stands, all four of us have heavy disadvantages against Infinite, so it’s pretty critical that we follow the roles I’ve got in mind. The plan is loose, but Shadow and I would do best at distracting him just because his wide attack range will be easier for us to dodge than it would be for either of you. Of course, we’ll try and get hits in if the opportunity arises, but we know from experience that he’s more than skilled enough to keep us at bay. Shadow still can’t use his powers, and I’m equally useless in that sense without an emerald. That’s where Gadget will be keeping out of the fray, but staying within a reasonable projectile range.”

“Alright… so I follow the rookie’s lead, find the right moment to halt Infinite, and give him an open window to destroy the ruby? What happens when that jerk starts going after either of us?”

“I don’t think he can’t harm me too much with the amount of influence the actual jackal can press on his own body at this point. The host thing, remember? He knows we’ll use that to our advantage - he’ll go all out on the rest of you to compensate though… so the pressure is kind of on us, Silver. If you use your telekinesis on him at the wrong time, or I mess up my shot, he’ll catch on to our plan and we’ll have to use everything we’ve got to keep him from slaughtering you.”

Silver’s quills bristled at the thought of it.

“I can’t guarantee that I’ll crack the ruby in one shot though… sorry guys. I’ll work with what I’ve got, but it’s just a warning. The other cracks are mostly from my boot, after all…”

Sonic only smirked, confusing the crimson canine. He nodded in his best friend’s direction, who revealed a familiar looking wispon from behind his back.

“Forgot this was in your hand when Sonic snatched you up, huh? Seeing what it did to our ships with little effort on your part, I’m sure this will be more than strong enough to shatter it beyond repair!”

Gadget squawked at his proclamation.

“And probably kill the host while I’m at it?!”

Tails’ smile remained confident.

“Another reason why I look like a draugr is because I spent some time checking out the mods on this thing. Looks like you can manually change its output! I reduced it a bit, so it’s still more effective than our standard burst wispon, but it won’t launch fist-sized meteors. Looks like Eggman ended up helping us out!”

* * *

The empire’s main fortress was in sight. Tails landed the ship to drop them off, before returning a fair distance away to land on standby. His tech was scrambling from the sheer amount of power exuding from that direction - likely the masked villain’s way of threatening them.

Once the team had gotten close enough, Infinite materialized in the sky.

“**There will be no more mercy for the lot of you!**”

_ I will end this now and reap the spoils of war. This world is mine, and it will remain that way! _

He launched a four-way stream of cubes to target each resistance member individually, which they successfully dodged despite not expecting it as a first method of offense. The rookie had been right; there was no monologuing this time around, and he was out for blood. Sonic and Shadow broke off in different directions, then began taking turns spin dashing towards the villain. They managed to jostle him the first handful of times, but as expected, the illusionist was forced to turn his attention towards the two in order to pull himself back on the offense. The dynamic had been going on for what felt like hours, but was likely only a fourth of one. Gadget stood far back, observing with apprehension. Silver floated over and hissed.

“You’re standing back here because you’re trying to watch for an opportunity, right? And you’ll give me a signal when that time comes, _ right _?!”

Gadget waved a hand to hush his frantic questioning.

“It’s honestly hard to pick an opening because of how quickly all three of them are attacking! They’re also too far right now, but if I get any closer, I’ll be in their way…”

The moment he finished his sentence, that was no longer a problem - the villain had managed to finally pinpoint their line of trajectory and summon an array of cubes to cut them off. Both hedgehogs slammed into the illusory walls and crashed to the ground with dual grunts. In the most terrifying way possible, Infinite craned his neck just short of 180 degrees to face the meek pair with a maniacal laugh.

“**You two runts are up next!**”

The pair screamed as they launched themselves in opposite directions, and the ground they’d stood on a moment prior became decimated rubble via solid illusory cubes. Silver called out to the unconscious pair further off, who were sprawled on the ground.

“Come on, there’s no time for napping! Get up!”

It was easy enough for Silver to dodge the volley of cube appendages, but he wouldn’t be able to keep it up for long without a break. Gadget, with his inferior maneuverability and lack of powers, was having more trouble; he was going to run out of energy quicker than Silver. There was nothing for him to grapple onto - the illusionist had likely taken that into consideration and set the battleground a distance away from the fortress to eliminate that advantage. The ivory hog, knowing Gadget was stuck dodging, soared over to the knocked out duo and shook them individually.

“What are you two, birds that flew into a glass window?! Idiots!” 

Their eyes cracked open, expressions portraying mild annoyance.

“Oh thank Chaos- I didn’t mean what I said, I-”

“Enough yammering, we get it. Thanks.”

The red-striped hog stood up, his bluer counterpart followed suit, and they burst off to take the load away from the wheezing canine. However, before they could make any contact with the illusionist, they were flung away by a wave of energy released by the phantom ruby. The only one that had withstood the blast was Silver, who’d been expecting it already. Infinite’s focus zeroed in on the telekinetic, and a moment later, the ivory hog found himself flying like his life depended on it. What was he supposed to do?! Pugilism would do nothing even if it came from someone as strong as the commander let alone himself, and there were no objects for him to use as makeshift ranged weapons. The only thing he could do was delegate the illusionist’s attention back onto one of the other three - he had one job, and he wouldn’t be able to do it if he was too busy flying away from everyone! The masked villain had no trouble keeping after him, and it wasn’t long before he grew annoyed of the chase and filled the sky with cubes. Like heat-seeking missiles, they all began raining down on him one by one. While successfully dodging the first few, they were increasing in speed and numbers - resigned, he knew that Infinite had out-maneuvered him. Silver put up a barrier as he was pummeled into the ground by the illusory hail. Infinite didn’t even glance back his way as he turned to continue his assault on the wolf.

“**I will just maim you as much as I can without this host interfering! You are the sole cause of my plans going awry - everything is your fault! I wasn’t even able to cripple this fool’s body without him intervening! It’s like he thinks his life is worth something! HAHAHA, isn’t that pathetic?! I’ll mince you up and bathe in your blood for all of the inconveniences you’ve caused me!**”

Each enraged statement was accompanied by an attack. Gadget cringed at the villain’s complete loss of rationality, but he couldn’t afford to spare any oxygen on a retort. His dodges grew too sloppy, and his vision distorted as he was hit square in the chest. As he crashed into the ground, Infinite’s figure grew closer, and the rookie knew this was the best shot he’d probably get. With a winded gasp, he cried out to the telekinetic hog, who took the cue and enveloped the raging illusionist in the last of his energy. Gadget pressed the burst wispon against the jackal’s chest and pulled the trigger, firing a pebble-sized meteor right into the largest fissure of the ruby. The two mobians were engulfed in the ensuing flames, and that was the last thing Gadget registered before his world went dark. 

* * *

  
  


Infinite was finally down, and his power was rapidly seeping from the ruby. As the rotund scientist hovered close enough from his fortress to assess the situation, he seethed in disbelief - that fight had been too easy. He should have still had the advantage, even in a 4-on-1.

_ He had the power to achieve everything we both want, but now it’s slipped away! _

“HOW DID YOU LOSE?! YOU WANTED TO DESTROY THE WORLD, WHAT IN CHAOS WENT SO WRONG IN THAT HEAD OF YOURS?!?!”

The ruby’s shattered and distorted voice vibrated from the ground.

“**It was the lack of autonomy I had in this host that has caused me to deviate from our plans so disastrously. It was not something I intended to tell you, and I didn’t want to fully acknowledge the problem at first - my body has been cracked for a while, and I was in denial. My attempts to rein in the jackal’s consciousness only grew in further vain as I took more damage. Thank you ** ** _oh so much_ ** ** for giving me the opportunity to realize world conquer, but I have failed us.**”

Eggman paused at the explanation. The jackal was unconscious, and the words were coming from what seemed to be all around him. His gaze locked on the shattered remains of the phantom ruby, and his sharp mind quickly came to realize that the day he’d put that ruby in his chest, he had been working with _ Infinite _, not that mercenary Zero. Its fuchsian aura grew dim, before completely dissipating.

A horde of resistance soldiers swarmed him, and he let it happen. He’d once again lost his opportunity to accomplish his own world, and he was at least intelligent enough to know that he couldn’t turn the situation in his favour at this point. Infinite had been the crux of his plans - the leverage he’d needed all this time to best the blue rat and his annoying friends. 

“I was a fool!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eggman has a penchant for getting lazy imo. Yeah, this man has totally just been kickin it back this entire time, thinking he’d finally created the perfect peon to achieve his dreams while he <strike>played wow and ate cheetos</strike> indulged in some 'him' time


	13. Chapter 13

The resistance was loud and boastful as a result of their victory - they could finally sleep without worrying about the lives of their loved ones, or whether they themselves would live to see a future without oppression. The ones most directly involved in the final battle, however, were alight with worry as they looked on at the rookie, collapsed near the downed jackal. A hasty examination proved him to be unconscious, and they deduced that it was a result of the strain he’d put on himself to end it all. He had sustained a fractured sternum and extensive bruising, but was otherwise going to make a full recovery. Gadget and the host, who they were under the impression went by Zero, were both taken back to base. The former was settled into the infirmary, while the latter was taken in by Tails for more thorough examination. Specifically, to ensure that there was no trace of the phantom ruby’s influence, but also for scanning to ensure there was no damage done to his body as an ultimate result of being fused with something so powerful. Aside from needing a skin graft for the area of his chest that had previously housed the phantom ruby, he sustained no other damage - likely due to the gem trying to protect itself and its host on instinct.

Gadget rejoined the world of the living to a dull throbbing pain throughout his whole body, along with familiar sounding, and very worried chatter. Cracking his eyelids open, his sight was met with some of the friendly faces of his closest friends. In a hoarse, croaking voice, he spoke up to let them know of his consciousness.

“Why do I feel like garbage…”

They all flinched, and shuffled their ensemble of fold-up chairs to form a horseshoe around his cot. Sonic patted him on the head.

“Hey, you’d feel worse if we didn’t dose you with some painkillers. You’re welc- no! Stay down. Bad dog.”

The rookie, who had only wanted to sit up so he could see everyone properly, crinkled his brow ridges but didn’t argue otherwise. Amy smoothed down a lump of hackled fur on his head.

“You’ve got a fractured sternum. That was a solid blow to the chest from that gem, and you’re a trooper for making it out with only that as an injury. By the way… you were totally right about it. You’ve been mumbling some nonsense, but have otherwise been pretty knocked out for the past day. _ Zero _ has been up for a little bit, though… that’s the host. He’s been desperate to speak with you, but back before all of this, you were insistent that you didn’t kn-”

“He’s my stupid boyfriend.”

Knuckles choked on a sip of Chaos Cola at the blunt statement, and shot his fellow red companion the stink eye.

“After all the whining and denying you’re really gonna hit us with that?! What’s wrong with you?!”

“I think he-_ Infinite _ put a cork on some of my memories when we faced each other the first time! This was the event that took place right before I came running here, when he was decimating my city. But… the documents were right. I promise, if you’re curious or need to know for legal purposes, I’ll tell you whatever. Where is he?”

* * *

With cautious steps, as to not aggravate his fracture, he was led to Tails’ wing of the base with the help of Silver. Inside, the fox was dead asleep on his cot, and the jackal sat idly in the genius kit’s chair. It was obvious that he hadn’t meant to pass out and leave ‘the enemy’ unattended, but for him to have fallen asleep without notifying anyone meant that he didn’t consider his patient to be one anyway. When the doors slid open, Zero’s sharp gaze was immediately on the wolf and he opened his mouth to speak, only for Gadget to throw a hand up and cut him off.

“I’m mad at you.” He turned to address the ivory hog. “Thank you for the help here.”

Silver at least knew how to read a room, and even though he had no idea what their deal was, he took the hint. 

“No problem! See you later on, buddy.”

“...”

“...”

“Will you let me speak?”

“Yeah, I want to hear what kind of crap excuse you’ve got for all of this.”

The jackal flinched.

“You’re right, I don’t have a good excuse.”

“Why did you mess with my memories, you seedy jackal?”

“That wasn’t me. You… would have been dead back in the city, but I chose that moment to use the small bit of agency I had to inhibit its ability to channel its powers through me. It picked my memories apart and figured everything out, and assumed that capping any memories you had of me would solve the problem. Obviously it lacked foresight, which I’m grateful for…”

Gadget stomach dropped, and his heart grew heavy.

“So you stopped Infinite from killing me, and it told me to run for its entertainment as a cover for its lack of control over you? Zero… did you choose this path? You quit your job, left me with no closure and the next thing I knew, you were curb stomping Mobius. When you’d told me about wanting to put your life as a mercenary in the past for good, I was proud of you. I would have helped you if money was a problem… my family cares about you just as much. My dad would have been more than happy to get you more work and give you a raise. He was so proud of how far you’d come too.”

He’d only ever seen Gadget cry when he’d mistakenly snipped the tip of his tail with wire cutters - that was the last time he’d let Gadget mess around with his tools. It felt worse when he was the reason for the waterworks.

“Please believe me, I wanted nothing more than to leave my past occupation behind.”

“Did you think becoming Infinite was a better alternative?! All of the memories we’ve made together… it hurts to think about.”

**~ A year prior to the start of the war~**

_ “I know it’s short notice, but I’ve brought a guest with me for dinner.” _

_ A reserved jackal stood behind the pack’s father, clearly feeling unsure and uncomfortable. Gadget, his little brother Gizmo, and their mother Gwendolyn all donned welcoming smiles. _

_ “You must be my husband’s new apprentice. We’re happy to have you join us tonight.” _

_ The jackal’s posture eased up a fraction. _

_ “Thanks. My name is Zero… you all seem as kind as Gus.” _

_ ~ _

_ Gus had taken a liking to the jackal the moment Zero had approached him looking for work. He had been brutally honest about the nature in which he’d been making ends meet up until that point, and was resolute in wanting to turn a new leaf. _

_ “I don’t want to live like this anymore. I don’t have any other experience in the workforce, but I’m more than willing to learn.” _

_ The elder wolf analyzed the rugged looking mobian standing before him. No resume, references or prior experience would usually guarantee eternal bad luck in the job hunting world, but Zero’s heterochromatic irises promised a type of work ethic that the journeyman electrician sought after. _

_ “Hmm… think you could handle electrical work? If so, then I’ll take you on as an apprentice.” _

_ The teal wolf’s intuition had never failed him. He extended a hand, to which the other reciprocated with a hopeful expression. _

_ ~ _

_ Supper had ended up making for an enjoyable evening, and to his surprise, the aloof jackal and his eldest pup found themselves holding a conversation without any awkward tension. He’d expected Gizmo to be the one entertaining Zero the most, but was pleasantly surprised to see his extremely timid older son being sociable for once. When it was time for Zero to head home, Gadget had insisted on walking out to his car with him. As Gus looked on from the living room window, Gwen joined him with an airy chuckle. _

_ “They are cute. Does Gadget think we didn’t see him with a sticky note?” _

_ “I’m glad that they got on so well tonight.” _

_ ~ _

_ Gadget and Zero had quickly progressed from texting, to hanging out, and then gradually becoming more affectionate with each other. Before either had realized it, they’d become an undercover item. Despite how deeply Zero felt about the sometimes scatterbrained, yet intelligent and hyperactive wolf, he also felt terrible for going behind Gus’ back. _

_ “I’ve been dishonest with your dad for too long. I feel like shit because of it. It’s better if I quit so that he doesn’t have to bear any guilt for firing me when I tell him.” _

_ “Zero… I’m not sure what to say, because I would feel guilty in your shoes too… but I don’t want you to be jobless because of me.” _

_ “It’s alright. I can pick up odds and ends with my old occupation.” _

_ “I don’t want to see you getting back into that, and I thought you didn’t either! Maybe we shouldn’t see each other any more. _ ** _Please_ ** _ , don’t choose that path again.” _

_ “We’ll make things work. I promise I won’t get into anything bad; not all mercenary work is morally questionable.” _

_ Despite everything, the built up guilt had Zero firm on resigning. The next day, he showed up for work and was straight to the point with the journeyman electrician. Wordlessly, he presented his notice of resignation to the confused wolf. _

_ “What’s this?” He scanned the first line and recognized what it was immediately. “Ah… I honestly didn’t see this coming. Did you find work elsewhere? Or was there something about this job that you’ve been unhappy about?” _

_ “Nothing like that… working for you has been one of the best things that has ever happened in my life. I apologize for my dishonesty, and for disrespecting you, because one of the other highlights in my life is that I’ve started seeing your eldest… I-” _

_ Gus cut him off with a hand on the jackal’s shoulder. _

_ “I know. Don’t you think that would be hard to hide? Two of the people I see most frequently on a day to day basis… think about it. I also saw you two exchanging numbers the first day you came over for dinner. Who do you think pays for his phone plan? I recognized your number on the bill right away. I assumed you two were just good friends at first, but you’ve sent thousands of texts to him in the span of two months. I can only assume that Gadget doesn’t spend nearly as much time studying with friends as he claims.” _

_ Zero was stupefied. How was he even supposed to respond to that? _

_ “... you still pay for his service?” _

_ That was definitely not how. Gus chuckled over how uncharacteristically flustered his apprentice was. _

_ “As long as he’s doing his best and still attending university, we cover everything for him. We recognize that nothing is cheap anymore, and just want the best for him and Gizmo - our youngest will receive the same benefits in the future as well. Onto the real topic at hand, though: I’m happy for you two. I’ve worked with you long enough to know your character, and realistically, there’s no rhyme or reason for me to be sticking my nose between either of you - you’re both sensible adults. I don’t see it as a conflict of interest, personally. I’d hate to see you go back to your old lifestyle; you’re better than that. You had my respect the day you barged into my shop without a resume.” _

_ Gus’s warm laugh lifted all of the guilt and worry from his mind. Stomach flipping like he was on a rollercoaster, he puffed out a breath. _

_ “Thank you… I would too.” _

* * *

“** _You disappeared a month after moving in with us!_ **”

“This was something I never wanted to keep from you, but people I’d run into during my time as a mercenary had been gradually invading my life - their _ insistence _ that my squad owed them money for jobs they’d lost out on years ago was what pushed me to leave. I was too proud to burden you with my problems, but my pride is all but gone as a consequence. I’d only meant to pick up morally sound jobs that paid well, and keep in touch with you until I had the means to pay what they wanted from us. Telling you anything could have put you in danger, and I couldn’t take the chance. I thought the phantom ruby would just be an improvement on my physical capabilities… my squad and I would rake in cash quicker, and I could return to you once we’d made enough. Looking back, even if that were the case, it was the wrong way to go about it.”

“You know… I had a feeling that there would still be loose ends. I know I’m a bit inexperienced in life, but I at least understand that Does that group still want money from you guys?”

“... no. They were killed.”

Gadget didn’t need any details to know the cause of their death. The red wolf snuffled and flicked tears off his muzzle.

“You were always the dumber one between us.”

Zero’s mouth quirked in a rueful smile. 

“You’re right. I became too greedy in pursuit of wealth; I was under the impression that it would be a quick stint where we guard his dumb labs, get a fat stack of cash, and dip out. Everything went to shit so fast…”

“Well you played a stupid game and won a stupid prize. At least you’re sick of this carnival game now, right?”

“I never wanted to play in the first place, Gadg. I just wanted to be completely free of my past. I lost myself in the consequences of mercenary life once again, and paid the price. I just wish I hadn’t dragged you and everyone else along.”

Gingerly, as to not disturb his chest or any injuries the other may have, he shuffled forward and clung himself to Zero’s waist. The jackal’s arms encircled him in turn, with the caution of someone trying not to scare a baby bird away. He craned his neck down to take in a small snuff of his partner’s scent, even though he didn’t feel he deserved the luxury. Gadget sobbed into the other canine’s chest fur as he finally allowed himself to break down.

“I’m glad you haven’t changed… why didn’t you tell anyone what was going on while Infinite reigned the world? Say… scream that you need that jewel out of your chest?”

They broke apart to sit on the couch, which seemed to be Sonic’s impromptu bed judging by the bits of blue quills sticking out of the material. 

“Just as I was able to minimally influence the ruby, it was able to do the same in kind during the instances where I was able to retain some control. I wouldn’t have had much, if any degree of authority at all if you hadn’t cracked it - this is probably the only time I’ll be thanking someone for knocking the wind out of me. Haha… but all I could do was relish in our encounters when I could beat Infinite’s subconscious down enough.”

“Like when you crawled into bed with me for a nap while Infinite was replenishing his energy? I’m glad it’s not you that thinks I’m an impudent clown or any of those other weird names.”

“That was one of the only good nights for me. Though… I could see myself calling you that ironically.”

“Oh… is that how you’d flirt?”

“... I suppose it is?”

Gadget let out a snort. He’d missed their dumb banter. A haphazard glance at the other’s stitched chest had him wondering something.

“It looks like you only needed a bit of skin for a graft… where did that come from?”

The jackal parroted Gadget’s snort as he reached down and tugged at the gauze on his ankle.

“It’s still numb from the cream I was given that I’d forgotten about that - that fox is really nice.”

“Yeah. We all owe him big time. So you’ll have a bald patch on your leg… I guess that’s fine since you’ll probably never grow out of wearing those hi-tops. Also… we hooked up.”

Zero choked on his own spit.

“You want to call that ‘hooking up’? I’m hurt; it meant so much more than that to me. That was all me in control. This whole time I’ve missed you, and having you in front of me so often yet out of reach was torture. I’m sure I’ve sprouted some grey hairs as a result.”

“Zee… you’re already beyond that point.”

The jackal pinched a strand of his hair and inspected it for a moment, before switching his gaze to the other’s amber eyes, which were still alight with questions.

“What went through your mind when we did _ that _? If the ruby was beaten out of control for the time being?”

“Way too many things at once for me to handle. Don’t even ask about the chest pains. Damn heart loving you too much… you were so close yet so far. What about you? You had to have felt it too.”

Gadget shrugged awkwardly. 

“Nope, nothing. It was like my body moved on its own accord… I hate being full of hormones.”

“Ah… I certainly don’t. At least your motor functions didn’t forget me~”

Zero received a well-deserved elbow to the gut. He laughed, but then it died down when his thoughts began running on overdrive.

“Despite everything… I have the deaths of countless innocents on my hands, and the destruction of an entire world to bear. I suppose the resistance will have a fitting punishment for the gravity of my transgressions - rightfully so.”

“No! They know you didn’t do any of this. And even though I didn’t have access to my memories at the time, I still had my suspicions about the ruby, even before it admitted to using you. You were a victim in this war, just like the rest of us. I’m not just saying that… I still love you as I always have.”

The jackal breathed in deeply in an attempt to prevent tears of relief from falling, but the dam broke anyway. It was freeing. They leaned into each other, twining their fingers and tails together as they often did when in each other’s company, before he pressed a chaste kiss to Gadget’s cheek fluff. _ He was free _, and he still had his most cherished companion on all of Mobius by his side in the end. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Da naa. Reunited in the end. It's about couple months short of a year since this fic started 🙌 A lil glimpse into their post-war life is in the most recent oneshot I posted. They doin good


End file.
